McLeish wants confidence

[eamonn]

Where the fuck is Chris Smith when you need him?

[Rip Van We Go Again]

Where the fuck is Chris Smith when you need him?

I think he's helping O'Leary in his financial claim against the Saudis.

[robbo1874]

His attitude is disgraceful. One of the reasons I refuse to renew my season ticket is this relentless defeatism which will no doubt lead to more 'park the bus' performances next year against these so called 'big guns.'

Are you really not going to renew?

It's a big call. Obviously I don't know how long you've had a season ticket or where you travel from etc.

I had a season ticket for one season towards the end of Gregory's tenure. Used to travel up from London and it did get pretty depressing towards the end of the season.

My only point of comparison is whether I can be arsed to stay up and watch the match on tv here. Most of the season I'll admit that I haven't had any motivation ( largely due to having a 9 month old kid now, which zaps the energy a bit) but I will be making more of an effort to watch the run in for sure.

[Zhong Yi]

well, when you look at the current table, another 'ninth place' finish is possible!

[Dante Lavelli]

The bloke is a complete cock.  He asks for confidence yet fails to inspire it himself. Useless Manager.  We are expected to beat the likes of Wigan and Blackburn yet picked up two points against them with half performances.  The guy speaks absolute shite.  Completely deluded. 

Haven't we taken eight points off Wigan and Blackburn this season?
What would you say if you were in his position?

[Rioch is King]

In the all time premier league we are 5th - it's odd that people at the club seem to need reminding of this, it should be something they are very aware of. Don't necessarily need to go on about it all the time but they shouldn't refer to the 4 above us as 'elite' and 'big guns'.

[Percy McCarthy]

Totally agree Rioch. It is so sycophantic.

If I were in charge, I'd tell the website and the manager that these clubs should be referred to as the 'Johnny-come-latelies'.

[Rip Van We Go Again]

In the all time premier league we are 5th - it's odd that people at the club seem to need reminding of this, it should be something they are very aware of.

Agreed.
Which makes our current position all the more galling.

[Rioch is King]

In fact, in the all time top English division from the beginning, including the premier league we are also 5th (behind Liverpool, Everton, Man U and Arsenal) - so when you include trophies won - F.A, League and European cups... we are without question one of the top 5 most successful clubs in English football. Which is why it pisses me off when people in the media are always on about the ''unrealistic expectations of the Villa fans''.

Do the people working at Villa park know these statistics I wonder?

[TheSandman]

If they painted us out to be some elite club it would be even harder for the club to justify the current corner shop mentality that has began to envelope the club.

[Ads]

What sort of confidence building approach starts with that killer phrase "teams take points when you least expect it, so why can't we"?

Reading the pre-match threads on forums it seems that most fans expect us to get turned over before every game.

He's suggesting it’s unlikely that we'll get points against better sides and he's right.

The majority of the fans agree with him too it seems, as judging the level of wanking over the Barcelona of West London, Fulham, for example, I am unsure as to why he is being criticised for his comments now?

For what its worth, he’s wrong. I expect us to beat Arsenal.

[timeoutbigbar]

The reason we wont get anything from the games is because this absolute moron will send them out in his trademark 'hold what we have' style from the first minute.  Unless he does something different, we'll have lost from the moment we set foot on the pitch.  Thats "why not us".

[Dante Lavelli]

The reason we wont get anything from the games is because this absolute moron will send them out in his trademark 'hold what we have' style from the first minute.  Unless he does something different, we'll have lost from the moment we set foot on the pitch.  Thats "why not us".

There's a good chance you're right Timeout but I'm not going to hang him for a crime he has not yet committed.  Our circumstances have changed a bit since earlier in the season in that we are pretty much safe so there is zero justification for the caution (not that I agree with it anyway)

[timeoutbigbar]

The reason we wont get anything from the games is because this absolute moron will send them out in his trademark 'hold what we have' style from the first minute.  Unless he does something different, we'll have lost from the moment we set foot on the pitch.  Thats "why not us".

There's a good chance you're right Timeout but I'm not going to hang him for a crime he has not yet committed.  Our circumstances have changed a bit since earlier in the season in that we are pretty much safe so there is zero justification for the caution (not that I agree with it anyway)

To be fair he's committed the crime at least three times this season.  I hope he does change his mentality for the upcoming games but I just can't see it.  His comment about wanting to 'remain unbeaten for as long as possible' doesn't overly suggest he's planning to go at them all guns blazing.

[Rioch is King]

What he should have said was - We have a few games against some big teams coming up, but as far as we are concerned no club is bigger than Aston Villa and if the players we have play to their full capabilities we can beat anyone in the league.