Arsenal v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[PaulWinch again]

There's a very good chance we won't get any points though. Other than Bolton(galvanised) and West Brom it looks very very tough.

[Vanilla]

It is just a shame that we play damage limitation, before the damage has even been inflicted. 

[drisaac]

on this form it will be us QPR, Wolves going down...

Wigan have still got to play Man Utd, Arsenal, Chelsea and Newcastle, and overhaul an 8 point gap and 21 goal difference.  How likely is that?  Not very.

[Merv]

Szczesny needn't have come, to judge from the fact that Villa had not one single shot on target but half a dozen yellow cards. Hope for them they can get shot of McLeish at the end of the season. They deserve better and shouldn't have to be relegated in order to get it.

Not my words, those of an Arsenal fan on the comments following the match report on the Guardian. Pity from fans of teams who've just whupped us. Don't like it.

[ktvillan]

Wigan go to Anfield and win.  Blackburn did so at Old Trafford.  What chance us doing similar with McLeish's ultimate damage limitation, Heskey is the answer approach? Less than zero I'd say.   We are still in the relegation equation, because we haven;t a hope of nicking unlikely points, whilst the others have.

[Surrey Villain]

A team selection designed to lose.  Heskey - perhaps we would have done better if the idiot Dowd had sent him off for elbowing Djouru.  Agbonlahor - useless. I know I will get swamped with fury for that statement but can somebody tell me how he justifies being in the team?  History? Reputation?  Promise?  No, he is a spent force and we must acknowledge it.
Two down so McLeish does a straight sub for a full back. Damage limitation rather than going for it. Midfield today was non-existent.  Arsenal were excellent but we made it easy for them to overrun us. Can't complain about the back four, indeed Warnock made the save of the match.  But that was where the team ended - apart from Ireland who was worth ten out of ten there was nobody else worth counting.
How many bookings were there? Six?  How many of them were even fouls at all.  Perhaps two. Dowd even started to show Warnock a red card then realised and laughed it off, and that after Walcott had tackled Warnock waist high and the latter was in no position to foul him back. And does offside only apply to the away side at the Emirates?

[dicedlam]

It is just a shame that we play damage limitation, before the damage has even been inflicted. 

About sums it up for me.

Put McAndrew & Sid in charge till the end of the season. I will Guarantee they will do no worse than this fucking idiot we have in charge.

[Legion]

Today's goals

[Nev]

Listening to the manager on WM it's clear that he doesn't have a care in the world, that he prepared for and expected a defeat and the way he spoke goes along way to explain the half hearted, couldn't really care attitude that is such a trademark of the club at the moment.

[PaulWinch again]

Listening to the manager on WM it's clear that he doesn't have a care in the world, that he prepared for and expected a defeat and the way he spoke goes along way to explain the half hearted, couldn't really care attitude that is such a trademark of the club at the moment.

Well he can c*** off then

[Rip Van We Go Again]

Listening to the manager on WM it's clear that he doesn't have a care in the world, that he prepared for and expected a defeat and the way he spoke goes along way to explain the half hearted, couldn't really care attitude that is such a trademark of the club at the moment.

The attitude and demeanour of a man who knows his job is safer than Fort Knox.

[jembob]

Listening to the manager on WM it's clear that he doesn't have a care in the world, that he prepared for and expected a defeat and the way he spoke goes along way to explain the half hearted, couldn't really care attitude that is such a trademark of the club at the moment.

I heard McLeish's interview on Friday and knew that he had already lost the game mentally. After a couple of weeks of feeling that we are safe from relegation I'm beginning to become concerned again. Apart from Wolves all of the other teams at the foot of the division are showing some fight - we on the other hand may as well just hand over 3 points for games like this and save our fans the expense and effort of going all the way to London to see us give up before the games started.

This attitude to games against what McLeish considers the 'elite' is deeply insulting and if he thinks he can still win over the support of the silent majority of Villa fans then he's as clueless as the spolit rich kid owner.

[Rob92]

My first game since the WBA game at VP and I'm glad to see I haven't missed much. I can only echo what others have said, we were utter toilet throughout and from the first whistle it was a case of "how many" for Arsenal.

We couldn't defend, we offered nothing going forward and in the rare moments we did get the ball we either gave it away, or gave it to Heskey, who had no one making an attacking run for him. Albrighton got in behind a few times, but again was all on his own so could do nothing.

I left after 87 mins (going to my brother's stag and decided to get an earlier train) and I'm shocked to read we had a shot on target. All I can recall is one over the bar from Albrighton first half, Weimann cutting it back when he should have shot and another blocked shot second half.

Heskey was kept on for far too long and Weimann did a lot more in his time on the pitch, offering us some movement up front. The midfield were non-existant and the defending was awful.

I still think we'll be alright, but only because there are 5 AWFUL teams in the league this year. Any other Premier League season, we'd be fucked.

[timeoutbigbar]

I don't know what can be added that hasn't already been said.  I expected to lose but, as I said in the pre-match thread, hoped he'd change his tactics so at least we had a go.  We ended up surrendering before the game started.  Where do we go from here.

[Rob92]

Forgot to add, those pointing to Wigan's win at Anfield today seem to forget that we won at Stamford Bridge. I think we might nick a draw at Anfield in a few weeks and there's certainly points on offer at home to Sunderland, Stoke and Bolton.

But as I said, any other season, we'd be fucked... We need a change in the summer as history suggests that teams that "get away with it" tend to get their comeuppance the following term.

Disgraceful to be talking like this, when you consider the money we've spent and how much our manager earns. Our problems run much deeper than McLeish.