Thinking The Unthinkable

[PaulWinch again]

I still think to move towards a passing game is the only way we get out of this mess. However the midfield and defence need to be more solid. We are creating chances now, but we're conceding far too many. I don't have the feeling of utter hopelessness that I had last year, I knew Mcleish would never succeed but I have hope that Lambert may.

[silhillvilla]

If Sunderland get a result today that would cap off an utter dog of a weekend.

[nornironvillain]

i think we all knew/realised that after the 3 games v UTd, City and Arsenal that there was a 99.9% chance we would be in the bottom 3 - anything v Arsenal is a bonus and then our season really has to begin after that game, lets just hope that yesterdays result and the league table dont knock the stuffing out of the team

[Pete3206]

I still think to move towards a passing game is the only way we get out of this mess. However the midfield and defence need to be more solid. We are creating chances now, but we're conceding far too many. I don't have the feeling of utter hopelessness that I had last year, I knew Mcleish would never succeed but I have hope that Lambert may.

I agree with that. At the start of this thread, I was a bit surprised at some of the excuses put forward for TSM. Last season, we were extremely lucky to stay up. We're going to need more than luck this season and TSM's philosophy of giving up before we've taken to the pitch against certain teams is a one way ticket to the bottom of the league. Lambert is trying new things and at least giving teams a game.

Don't be surprised to see another humdinger against Arsenal. We might lose, but I'd rather see a Villa side trying to win, than trying to contain the opposition. It's far from a hopeless situation, when you're a third into the season.

As for Man City, they were just too good for us. No excuses.

[Risso]

We gave up after the second goal yesterday.  The young players' heads went, and there was nobody to pick them up and try and instil some fight or self belief.

[olaftab]

There is NO case for  defending McLeish. We were very very lucky indeed last season to survive. Lambert is doing the right things now however it's going to be touch and go. Everything now points to us getting relegated this season but you never know.
It is actually easy to avoid relegation you only need to win a few games. It is possible we will do that if for nothing else  than for the sake of the brave new world we are trying to put in place at VP.

[paulcomben]

We gave up after the second goal yesterday.  The young players' heads went, and there was nobody to pick them up and try and instil some fight or self belief.

Quite the opposite. There was the despicable linesman, who will spend all of his holidays in UAE, gifting Citeh a second unnecessary penalty.

[Clampy]

We gave up after the second goal yesterday.  The young players' heads went, and there was nobody to pick them up and try and instil some fight or self belief.

Quite the opposite. There was the despicable linesman, who will spend all of his holidays in UAE, gifting Citeh a second unnecessary penalty.

For the second one, just a bit of common sense was needed. It was'nt excatly intentional handball.

[eastie]

The 1st pen was clearly a shocking error but I don't really have a problem with the 2nd pen, if it had been an opposition player I'd have expected it given to us,  and although a tad unfortunate I think most officials would have given a pen.

[Eigentor]

Another comment on AM: in the transfer market, he deployed the exact opposite strategy to Lambert, signing supposedly proven Premier League quality: Given, Hutton and N'Zogbia.

[KevinGage]

7 wins in the entire season did for McLeish.

Forget where he came from, his interpretation of attacking football or his increasingly bizarre and desperate justifications by the end. 

He came to us with the reputation of being a decent guy. Yet by April/May last year he was in full on DOL mode  "Just because Aston Villa won a European Cup once doesn't mean they have a divine right to finish in the top 10 of the Barclays Premier League."     Inspired stuff.   

When we lost to the top 4/5, their agenda was different to ours - what could we realistically expect, in other words.   

But -weirdly-  when we lost to teams who had spent far less than us, or had only been in the topflight for a season or two, those were not the games we should have been expecting to win either. 

[KevinGage]

BTW, If Lambert only manages 7 wins in an entire campaign -rebuilding or no-  there will be calls to have him potted too.

[eastie]

Another comment on AM: in the transfer market, he deployed the exact opposite strategy to Lambert, signing supposedly proven Premier League quality: Given, Hutton and N'Zogbia.

In fairness given and nzogbia were both popular signings at the time and although the length of his contract was debatable I don't think shay should be bracketed alongside the likes of Hutton.

Nzogbia has been a huge disappointment .

[Percy McCarthy]

Being popular signings doesn't excuse anything. None of us are the 20th best-paid football manager in the world. It's how the signings perform that matters, not what we think of them at the time.

I was chuffed when we bought CNZ, but so what? As yet he's been awful.

On balance, PL's unheralded signings look much better value.

[JUAN PABLO]

Why do people think we will be ok If we buy some players in January. I am  sure Reading will buy some players with their rich owner and QPR worry me If craggyface ends up going there .  Southampton's football has been better than ours too.

Im about 50/50 on relegation at the moment and still convinced PL will sort it ,  but I did not think I would say this , but we need Dunne in the team asap .