Wigan Athletic v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[Malandro]

Apart from the football, Wigan should be kicked out for the state of the pitch. We just lost our £20million striker because they let the rugga buggers use their ground.

[Clampy]

One thing struck me yesterday as significant. I can't remember the last time our fans were so quiet away from home, the usual jovial atmosphere was'nt there. It's not a criticism, it's more an indication of how things bad are on the pitch and yesterday was a poor as it has been.

I really don't want to think about what could happen if we keep playing like that,  but all i know is that something needs to change.

[Pat McMahon]

Not great was it. On the plus side we got our first clean sheet since boxing day with fat arse out the way. Hopefully that will give the defence a bit of confidence and we can build on it

Some things in life are bad
They can really make you mad
Other things just make you swear and curse.
When you're chewing on life's gristle
Don't grumble, give a whistle
And this'll help things turn out for the best...

And......

Cheerful bastard.....!

I do feel sorry for McLeish. I just want the club to do wel and whilst he is here that means big Eck doing well too. I hate to see us turning on any of our own, be it players or coaching staff. I will never boo Heskey because though he may not be world class he is a trier, and i dont think he ever shirks his duties in a Vila shirt. He aint good enough to be a first choice forward but that is not his fault.

I do think McLeish is a thoroughly decent man who appreciates the size and history of Aston Villa, and, like Emile, is doing his best for Villa. Unfortunately, like Emile, i simply fear he is not good enough. Most of us, if offered the best job we could realistically hope to get, at a fantastically high salary, would say yes, and he is no different. I don't blame him for coming, and i realy dislike the abuse he isreceiving.

I hope he can turn things around, but there is a massive negativity about us at the moment and this is the worst I have felt for a long time about our prospects. As Graham Taylor said, when a club is sliding it is very hard to halt the decline.  It is not as bad as the mid 80s, but it could get that bad if we don't perk up quickly.

[damon loves JT]

Pat, it was more along the lines of: if Gnashers is being optimistic, something is terribly wrong.

[saunders_heroes]

How are we expected to compete with a midfield of Albrighton, Bannan and Gardner? They were f#ckin dreadful. I cannot believe our piss poor excuse of a manager picks them over Ireland and N'Zogbia.

[PeterWithe]

I think including Ireland or N'Zogbia would have been just a different kind of lightweight midfield.

[Pat McMahon]

Pat, it was more along the lines of: if Gnashers is being optimistic, something is terribly wrong.

Shit, the penny hadn't dropped.

That's me off to get a nose job in the morning then I'm applying for permanent Chinese residency

[Monty]

I've said it before, he may not mean to be negative, but he's so genuinely bad that he doesn't know what to do with talented young attacking players like Albrighton, Gardner or Bannan. You can't just throw them out there in a fairly rigid 4-4-2 with no support coming from in front or behind them.

I'd be very surprised if it turned out that there was any sort of level of meticulousness in training like people like Brendan Rodgers were talking about, or like his players were saying is being implemented. The same could be said of MON, but at least MON has that indefinable something which, according to Robbie Savage, makes players feel "100-feet tall".

McLeish doesn't have tactical or technical nous, nor is he an inspiring leader. He just plods along blandly and aimlessly, doing things which sometimes sound good but which are done on total hear-say, with no actual analysis coming from the man himself. The day I lost all hope for him was when he said, after QPR I think: "we're conceding goals, and I know why - we're not defending well enough." It was about as insightful as having Alan Shearer or Mark Lawrenson in charge.

[JUAN PABLO]

It was bad in the mid 80s , I remember it well . But I'm more unhappy now , at least the players were bloody awful then , I expected the rubbish and I could easily afford to go to the game even as a 20 year old so always still had a right laugh .  Now we have some decent players on paper and it costs me a bloody fortune to get down there but what I'm witnessing is just depressing me , wealthy players getting picked by a wealthy manager who has not got a clue , sprouting rubbish in his post match interviews.     Bloody torture.

[citizenDJ]

It just all seems so aimless to me. I understand that we may be enduring a transitional season, a time for the manager to work out who he wants to keep, to let go, to establish a way of playing for the squad to move forward....but I don't see any sign of that stuff happening. Surely 25 games is plenty of time to have established at least some sort of direction?

It just seems, well, messy and rudderless. Why buy a winger (and a decent one, too) and then completely fail to incorporate him effectively in to the team or, worse, not play him at all? Why tell us that he won't stand for poor performance, and then continue to stick with the same defenders week in, week out? Why refuse to pick Cuellar at those times, and then tell us that you want him (belatedly) to sign a new contract on account of his ability and professionalism? Why 'challenge' players to up their game (Ireland, N'Zogbia) and then drop them from the team? Why continue to play one of the leagues most prolific strikers in such an isolated position, so that he has to tell us that he is working hard 'for the team'? Bent has never worked hard for the team, he just scores shitloads of goals, given the chance. Why the seemingly random midfield selections? Why keep fiddling with the formation, especially when a fairly effective one was stumbled upon early on in the season? Why the determination to play Heskey everywhere except up front (where, I believe, he can be an asset, especially next to a poacher like Bent)?

I don't wish to over-praise Houllier, and I'm not his biggest fan, but for all his faults he had begun to establish a clear way forward for us by this time. Even when results went against us, I could see that the team were changing what they were doing, developing a way of playing. The defense was shite (mostly), but from what I can tell, he had already decided to change them during the summer transfer window which, regrettably, he didn't get.

Now, none of that might have worked in the end, I don't know, but at least it looked like a work in progress. Currently, I don't think we look like that at all. In fact, McLeish has increasingly fallen back to tactics and team selection that he appears to feel comfortable with but which demonstrably haven't worked. That is not a good sign.
I really hoped that he might develop his managerial skills with us, prove to people that he was able to adapt to different situations, but he is showing no signs of that at all - quite the opposite in my opinion. And it's a bit trite, but those who keep on doing the same thing tend to get what they've always got.

[LamBeast]

0-0.Keep Right On!

[KevinGage]

Poor today.  Really, really poor. 

I feel sorry for Mcleish, but that, again, was just not good enough.   If he was Spurs manager, he would've gone by christmas.  If he was managing Everton, gone.  Newcastle, maybe gone too. 

why do people feel sorry for him , theres no excuse bringing Heskey with Nzog and Ireland on the bench .

Well, 'cause he's out of his depth, and there's a tragedy about watching that happen. It's not his fault he's not good enough - I mean it's not like he's trying to be this bad.

Maybe he is?


Think about it, if he walks he won't get his contract paid out.

But if he's sacked, he most probably will.
This gig is probably getting to him now.  The fans never took to him (though most tried to give him a chance).  I can't imagine the players were doing cartwheels on an appointment that ambitious either. But some of them on the fringes (or those annoyed with GH) might have viewed it as a new opportunity.  Until the general ineptitude of the bloke really hit home.

Maybe even he  is aware of his own ineptitude now, and wants the hammer to come down as quick as possible.  Ergo weird team selections and trying to build a team around Ivanhoe.

[kippaxvilla2]

If he keeps his current win ratio we will get another 9 points or thereabouts.  Will 38 points be enough?

[tarzansbrother]

If he keeps his current win ratio we will get another 9 points or thereabouts.  Will 38 points be enough?

I just looked at the other 4 teams run in and QPR looks the worst with Bolton/Blackburn favourable to ours. Our 2 home games of Bolton/Fulham look absolute must wins.

[Chris Jameson]

I know my son and I were spoilt last sunday with the Barcelona match we were very fortunate to witness but my son asked if we could leave at half time yesterday because he was so bored and he completely forgot we had been to the game when he woke up this morning.

Sums it up perfectly, abysmal. First and last match i'll be bothering with for a long time.