Arsenal v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[damon loves JT]

On the plus side, now that the clocks have gone forward we are an hour closer to the end of the season.

[olaftab]

As we have another GIANT team up next at VP I imagine Alex is planning for 0-2 as acceptable. 1-2 would be a triumph and 0-3 ....well what do you expect they are an elite club!

[villasjf]

To top it all just went on the OS to see the post match response by Eck and they got the wrong clip, they played the clip of the cup game at the Arse.

[Villafirst]

I am going to keep this simple as i am fed up of repeating myself.

This bloke is a championship manager.

If he is our manager next year we will get relegated.

You could be right there.

He is right. We are on a train that is heading for relegation. If not this season, definitely next year. I wish Lerner would look at the table.

Lerner is as incompetent as McLeish. He's presided over one fuck-up after another since MON bailed out. It's all very well having a go at McLeish when really Lerner deserves the flak for his judgement on Managerial appointments.

[Nastylee]

His whole ethos and approach to football, particularly against the top 6 is shocking. As I said on an earlier post we have given all the 'elite' a going over at some point in the last few seasons so why should we accept just turning up and leaving with no pride? Just because few teams get a result at a particular ground doesn't mean we should go there expecting to lose. Yesterday was inevitable, I didn't even tune in to watch/listen. The current regime is destroying the reputation of our club. We have an inept manager and a chairman that seems to have disappeared off the face of the Earth. We're in crisis and there is no guidance from anyone and really am struggling to comprehend how the key personnel can seemingly ignore what is happening right under their noses.

[Steve67]

I am going to keep this simple as i am fed up of repeating myself.

This bloke is a championship manager.

If he is our manager next year we will get relegated.

You could be right there.

He is right. We are on a train that is heading for relegation. If not this season, definitely next year. I wish Lerner would look at the table.

Lerner is as incompetent as McLeish. He's presided over one fuck-up after another since MON bailed out. It's all very well having a go at McLeish when really Lerner deserves the flak for his judgement on Managerial appointments.

Good old Doug eh?  He chose the buyer. "Villa are in good hands going forward" he said.  Oh dear. The man got so little right during his tenure as Chairman and has left us with yet another Dougenomics legacy.  Lerner is a tard, McLeish is a bigger tard, Faulkner has taken us backwards since he was appointed.

As for playing Arsenal/Chelsea or anyone else this season, other than Bolton, we might as well not "try too hard" as they are all better than.  Use Petrov as the template for effort.

[Nastylee]

Don't think Doug can be blamed for this mess however hard you try.

[Billy Walker]

One faint hope is Liverpool are not in great form maybe we could sneak a draw there ...

Why sneak a draw?  We should be going up there to win, like we should be doing with every game.

Other posters have hit the nail on the head, yesterday seemed to suggest our players did not know what to do. Marc Albrighton seems to have lost a little confidence, too (who coaches the wingers these days?). 

We absolutely gifted Arsenal their crucial two goals and I put that down to the fact that when we were in possession they harried us and gave us the minimum of time and space on the ball.  Alas, when they were in possession we sat back and gave them the time, room and space to pass move and attack.  I like McLeish but the buck stops with him on this one - coaching, game plan, motivation and confidence were all lacking and such spineless displays are not acceptable.  I look at that Arsenal team and I genuinely couldn't pick most of them out of a photo i.d.parade.  They are, by and large, a bunch of nobodies that have been scouted, coached and brought into a system of attractive, winning football.  Is that beyond Villa?   Would it take millions of quid to achieve?  I don't think so.  Is McLeish capable of emulating this?  Dear Lord, I hope so but the evidence thus far does not point to it.  I think he seriously needs to overhaul our coaching staff and we seriously need to recruit some top notch people behind the scenes to work with our players - no disrespect to Peter Grant.

Heaven only knows how McLeish is going to have the team set up and motivated for the trip to the club run by the man who kindly recommended him for the Villa job.  For a whole variety of reasons I don't believe for one second our manager has even targeted any points whatsoever from that fixture.

[Steve67]

Don't think Doug can be blamed for this mess however hard you try.

Ellis sold him the club.  I cannot blame Ellis for the decisions taken since then, but he did sell him the club. Ellis didn't get a great deal right, he also, evidently, got this one wrong as well.

[Nastylee]

No one was complaining for the first three years. The mess we're in now is a direct result of the decisions taken since then, Doug has no say in that and what he sold the club for is not relevant - he took the hit.

[Clampy]

Don't think Doug can be blamed for this mess however hard you try.

Ellis sold him the club.  I cannot blame Ellis for the decisions taken since then, but he did sell him the club. Ellis didn't get a great deal right, he also, evidently, got this one wrong as well.

What rubbish.

[Billy Walker]

"Not many teams come here and get anything", Our record there was fantastic until you graced us with your presence Alex.

Yes this attitude alarms more than most things about Alex.
How about "we were a disgrace and I am going to make sure that an Aston Villa team  never ever goes on the pitch and performs like that again"?

Did he really say that (the quote at the top)?  Bearing in mind our young lads regularly batter Arsenal at various levels and bearing in mind we have an excellent record at their place at senior level I find that such a shoddy thing to say.  Come on Alex - no excuses!!  Fire the players up, realise you are managing an "elite" club yourself and get this club back up where it should be.  The white flag, small-time, negative attitude is not acceptable at Villa.

[JUAN PABLO]

I recorded the game to watch this morning when I got up.
When I saw the team I thought we were going for damage limitation.
After about the first ten minutes, where Arsenal were playing the ball around our box and we weren't tracking runners I thought we were in for a beating.
After the first goal, which basically was discraceful defending, I gave up and went out on my mountain bike.

I don't think we will get relegated, but on some of the discraceful performances we have put in this season, when we have given up trying to win before a ball is kicked, I'm not sure we deserve to still be in the Premier League. Someone sort this shit out, FFS, WE ARE ASTON VILLA.
Why doesn't that mean enough to a lot of the Players, the Manager, Owner etc?       

I set the sky to record the football first of the game , it didn't record for some reason . It was telling me something . 

still stayed up to 12.45 to watch the next one like a idiot.     

[JUAN PABLO]

Credit where it's due Song's pass to Walcott for the second was Cowans-esque.

Realistically we were never going to win this game, had it been 2 months ago when Wenger was on the ropes maybe.

Now Chelsea are a different proposition - shit record at Villa Park recently and struggling to cling on to a champs league place, surely we will have a go? this will be 3 of the 7 we need.

Didnt help with Cuellar  just giving him the ball and then he is caught of our position .  Park football at best

[JUAN PABLO]

His whole ethos and approach to football, particularly against the top 6 is shocking. As I said on an earlier post we have given all the 'elite' a going over at some point in the last few seasons so why should we accept just turning up and leaving with no pride? Just because few teams get a result at a particular ground doesn't mean we should go there expecting to lose. Yesterday was inevitable, I didn't even tune in to watch/listen. The current regime is destroying the reputation of our club. We have an inept manager and a chairman that seems to have disappeared off the face of the Earth. We're in crisis and there is no guidance from anyone and really am struggling to comprehend how the key personnel can seemingly ignore what is happening right under their noses.

Hes beat a top 6 side twice in two seasons I think with us and SH, chelsea twice , but his record against top 10 teams is pretty dire too.