Blackburn Rovers v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[Dante Lavelli]

Cheer up folks.  If we'd won, AMc would be that much safer in his position.
As it is, we took a point and denied one of rivals a crucial 3 points.

We should just about stay up, but we don't want to be too comfortable otherwise it'll mean more AMc.

[Nastylee]

I'm not totally certain that McCleish can take the blame for that today, last week yes but not today. Poor finishing meant we didn't take advantage of Rover's inept 1st half display. They were never going to be as bad 2nd half and not getting the second goal cost us. We simply couldn't get hold of the ball second half, nothing to do with tactics, just that Blackburn upped the ante and we gave them the ball back everytime we won it. Gabby was not good enough at giving us an out ball by running the channels and allowing us to push up the pitch. Thought the defence played well but with 45 mins of constant pressure it's hardly surprising they cracked in the end.

[villadelph]

McCunt will be overjoyed at that point. Blackburn ended up with 60% of the possession - Pathetic.

As said above, 6 wins in 27 is dismal.

Please get rid of him now before we have to listen to his post match interview saying how great we are.

We have shown no signs of improvement over the span of 27 games. Nothing has gotten better, literally nothing. We don't have a single aspect of our game to be proud of.

[kippaxvilla2]

He's just been on WM and said we were totally dominant and need to start being ruthless in front of goal.  Pointed to Robinson being man of the match as testament to our performance.  And so another week of excuses goes under the radar.

[Tom_Mc9?]

Our inspirational leader has spoken:
Aston Villa manager Alex McLeish after the 1-1 draw at Blackburn:
"It is not the end of the world but we are disappointed. It was a long second half but this is where some of my players have to get a little bit tougher.

"We played some really good football in the first half but we have lacked ruthlessness at times this season and it was the same again here."

[pauliewalnuts]

He's just been on WM and said we were totally dominant and need to start being ruthless in front of goal.  Pointed to Robinson being man of the match as testament to our performance.  And so another week of excuses goes under the radar.

Where was he for the second half, then, because he can't have seen much on the field if that was "dominant".

[CJ]

We only looked good in the first half because Blackburn were petrified of making mistakes and stayed off us, leaving us with time and space to play, and we should have taken better advantage of that. Once they decided to have a go we reverted to type.  Hanging on for a point against the likes of Wigan and Blackburn is pathetic, predictable and par for the course for McLeish, who'll be happy as it maintains the gap between us and them. I'm getting to the point where I just don't care anymore

[villadelph]

Our inspirational leader has spoken:
Aston Villa manager Alex McLeish after the 1-1 draw at Blackburn:
"It is not the end of the world but we are disappointed. It was a long second half but this is where some of my players have to get a little bit tougher.

"We played some really good football in the first half but we have lacked ruthlessness at times this season and it was the same again here."

We had no organization or offensive thought in the second half, that's your job you dumb clown.

[Tom_Mc9?]

Where in God's name was Heskey today?

[pauliewalnuts]

We only looked good in the first half because Blackburn were petrified of making mistakes and stayed off us, leaving us with time and space to play, and we should have taken better advantage of that. Once they decided to have a go we reverted to type.  Hanging on for a point against the likes of Wigan and Blackburn is pathetic, predictable and par for the course for McLeish, who'll be happy as it maintains the gap between us and them. I'm getting to the point where I just don't care anymore

Between now and the end of the season, we will not get invited to fill our boots as much as we were today in the first half by Blackburn.

I honestly can not see where our next win is going to come from.

[David_Nab]

We bottled it, you could see BRFC would have to change it half time and shockingly they did! We are treading water, AM won't go... he is talking about buying bosmans in the summer! woohoo are we all excited yet?

A year or so ago McAllister was talking about Houiller having signings lined up.I'm sure AMC does have targets but should things not improve I think he could still get the chop in the summer.

[DB]

We had 1 chance 2nd half that Gabby should have put away. Apart from that we just stood off them, when we had the ball just gave it way. It really is awful.

[Smoke]

11 games left. 11 points to play for.

[Jockey Randall]

Today certainly looked more of a case of Blackburn being a total disgrace in the 1st half and actually turning up for the 2nd half rather than anything we did.

[ozzjim]

Second half was pathetic. We were poor in front of goal apart from Gabby, and second half Given made as many good stops as Robinson.

Gabby IMO was poor from an attacking sense, worked hard but their centre halves did not have a difficult game against him. We will miss Bent as he gives us a genuine cutting edge and a bloke who you know is going to be getting in a position to actually score goals.

Albrighton was just workman like, but playing him left and NZogbia right is pathetically stupid. I don't care which managers think it is a good idea, a left winger like NZogbia is at his best doing his full back on the left and getting the ball in, ditto Albrighton is much better down the right. His ability to cross a whipped ball is completely lost on the left. Downing and he were most effective playing left and right last season and created for each other coming in on the back post. We have not done that at all this season, and NZogbia is equally capable, just utilised badly.

Herd and Petrov were both fucked by 60 minutes. The decision/ inability to get an extra body that can put their foot in in January was a big mistake.


We have 2 winnable games before the hard yards start. Win neither, and I can't see more than 36 points. It is going to be a lot closer than it is right now come may.