Blackburn Rovers v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[pauliewalnuts]

With the players at his disposal the results are truly atrocious.

That's the most damning thing.

He makes the team look less than the sum of the parts.

[damon loves JT]

I reckon I could take Mark Fletcher at Ker-plunk.

He'd be too busy shouting at himself, rolling his eyes and thumping his fist angrily into his palm to pull any of the little straws out.

[UK Redsox]

Did the Ewok Park groundsman tell the players that they could only use one end of the pitch today ?

I wish I'd taken some binoculars with me. I'll have too watch MOTD to figure out what went on in that goalmouth scramble.

Anyhow................

First half was pretty good. Great run by Carlos to set up Zog and we could have had a couple more.

Second half was like watching a repeat of the Wigan game from last week.

Good to see Herd back. I really rate the guy and was impressed by the way that he covered back behind Hutton. RB should be Chris' position as long as Gary progresses and cements his place in midfield.

I guess that the long crossfield ball from Collins to Albrighton worked well in training. I can only assume that Bannan was marking Marc in practice, because there was no way that Marc was ever going to win a header against a normal height defender.

[Vanilla]

So you have a decent first half against a team who are low on confidence, in the bottom three, have conceded on average of more than two goals a game and who are being barracked by their own supporters.

So do you:
a) Play the second half in the same manner, to build on your lead and leave the opposition in tatters or,

b) Sit back as though you have snatched a goal against the run of play, let the opposition go on the offensive and give them and their fans the belief that they can get something from the game.

Guess which theme the half-time team talk took in the Villa dressing room followed.

[Chris Harte]

Good first half, could have been three up at the break.

Defended too deep second half, their equaliser was always coming and we were lucky it didn't turn out worse than that.

I'm guessing this has been said at least 40 times on this thread already.

[preston28]

For 45 minutes, Blackburn didn't even try, gifted us loads of space, and we played well, going a  goal up.

As soon as they started looking like they wanted to win the game in the second half, we were never going to hold onto all three points.

I have no idea how this total fucking idiot is managing to stay in the job. 6 wins in 27 games, that is utterly pathetic.

He has got to go, and now. Anyone who thinks we won't get dragged into the relegation battle, despite taking TWO points from matches against Wigan and Blackburn is absolutely kidding themselves.

The worst thing is, he's probably pretty fucking happy with a point.

If he doesn't take us down this year, he will next year. I imagine Lerner and his clueless flunky Faulkner probably think he's doing a decent job.

For fuck's sake, wake up, Lerner, look at what this man is doing to the club and change it before it is too late.

I'm afraid it may be a bad dream to us but Lerner & Faulkner are living the dream - it's all hunkey dorey at VP as far as they are concerned.

[McGraths Dry Cleaning]

According to wiki (so it must be right) McLeish has the second worst win ratio in Villa management history at 27%. No prizes for guessing the worst - McNeil at 22%.

[Brend'Watkins]

I have decided to do anything else but listen or stream our away games for the rest of the season as I seriously think it is bad for my health.  Surprisingly, I don't feel too bad about us letting in another late equalizer as I wasn't listening or watching as it happened. 

I'm almost content that we didn't lose. 





 

[PaulWinch again]

According to wiki (so it must be right) McLeish has the second worst win ratio in Villa management history at 27%. No prizes for guessing the worst - McNeil at 22%.

I think his league winning ratio is about 22%, so equally bad. Also if you add in the dross that is played, it's a brilliant combination.

[Steve R]

The thing that changed most in the second half was that we lost midfield dominance. I assume Herd was not fully fit and Petrov looked shagged as he emerged from the tunnel, let alone 60 minutes.

By the simple expedient of lumping the ball forward and either keeping hold of it or being the only ones in position to collect the clearance Rovers dominated.

The subs should have come earlier. Gardner did steady the ship a bit, but Petrov should also have been replaced. by whom, I have no idea. The obvious choice is in Greece and his replacement is now in his 6th consecutive season  of spending more time on his back with his feet up than Joan Collins.

Us it OK to observe that with Bent on the pitch, the game may well have been over after 30 minutes?

[OzVilla]

And for all his faults McLeish is trying, Billy McUseless clearly didn't give a shit.

That makes it worse.

[HalesowenVilla]

Shocking 2nd half performance like most of this season. we only looked decent first half because blackburn were so poor. we are very lucky that there's so many shite teams this season. what the hell is happening to us. Dark dark days

[SoccerHQ]

Blackburn have to be one of the worst premier league teams I've ever seen.

In any other season they'd have been relegated by now.

We piss all over them in the first half.....and still couldn't win.

Just not good enough. I can't see McLeish even reaching 40 points this season, something that every other Villa manager has achived in the last 20 years in a full season.

He should be sent packing for that alone.

[ozzjim]

The thing that changed most in the second half was that we lost midfield dominance. I assume Herd was not fully fit and Petrov looked shagged as he emerged from the tunnel, let alone 60 minutes.

By the simple expedient of lumping the ball forward and either keeping hold of it or being the only ones in position to collect the clearance Rovers dominated.

The subs should have come earlier. Gardner did steady the ship a bit, but Petrov should also have been replaced. by whom, I have no idea. The obvious choice is in Greece and his replacement is now in his 6th consecutive season  of spending more time on his back with his feet up than Joan Collins.

Us it OK to observe that with Bent on the pitch, the game may well have been over after 30 minutes?

No because we play better without Bent remember, so would not have created the chances in the first place. Bent is half our problem. Tsk.

[TaxDodger]

Not long got back. Why can we only play for 45 minutes?