Confidence In The Manager

[Dave Clark Five]

It's a chicken and egg situation with the club (or manager, if you prefer) and 20,000 empty seats pointing at each other and basically saying what Clamps said. Nobody except an ever-decreasing number of old school supporters are bothered about cups until there's a sniff of Wembley so I don't know why there's so much hysteria about Tuesday night.

Aren't you answering your own question, in a roundabout way, though. Because of Tuesday night there won't be any sniffs of Wembley.

I'm not answering it at all. it was the least important game we've played all season, as evinced by the crowd, yet it's unleashed a wave of hysteria on a par with Gabby clattering him out of One Direction.

I think the problem is that we had just witness another dreadful home performance and can only envisage the same on Saturday. It is becoming the norm at Villa Park and, having to trudge down there on a Tuesday night (instead of a proper football night), makes it a long, tedious week. If Man City do as is expected, and put more than three or four past us, it will not be a happy ground.

[eastie]

Surely the fact the crowd was so low doesnt necessarily reflect that the fans see it at the least important game , but that maybe the fans feel the club are not taking it too seriously and many would decide not to pay their hard earned cash to see a mostly 2nd choice team?

The club can hardly be surprised  if cup gates drop further if the team chosen Is not the strongest available.

As dc5 says there is a feeling among many that we will get trounced tomorrow at home and until things change on the pitch at villa park then it will not get better.

[Dante Lavelli]

Surely the fact the crowd was so low doesnt necessarily reflect that the fans see it at the least important game , but that maybe the fans feel the club are not taking it too seriously and many would decide not to pay their hard earned cash to see a mostly 2nd choice team?

The club can hardly be surprised  if cup gates drop further if the team chosen Is not the strongest available.

But the fans weren't to know that he'd play a weakened team.  It was pretty much the full side versus Rotherham (?) in the previous round.  They would have had an inkling that injuries were going to rob villa of a few players, but I struggle to see how that is the manager's fault.

[eastie]

Surely the fact the crowd was so low doesnt necessarily reflect that the fans see it at the least important game , but that maybe the fans feel the club are not taking it too seriously and many would decide not to pay their hard earned cash to see a mostly 2nd choice team?

The club can hardly be surprised  if cup gates drop further if the team chosen Is not the strongest available.

But the fans weren't to know that he'd play a weakened team.  It was pretty much the full side versus Rotherham (?) in the previous round.  They would have had an inkling that injuries were going to rob villa of a few players, but I struggle to see how that is the manager's fault.

It's not a question of it being the managers fault as such , he stated clearly the day before that he saw the man city game as being of huge importance and on he back of that i think most had an inkling he would be playing a weakened side .

I would imagine quite a few who didnt go did so because they expected a weakened side , it was no great shock.
Regarding the Rotherham line up there was an international break coming up , whereas now we have one of the top teams visiting us a few days later.

[silhillvilla]

We've viagogo'd our seats for Saturday and taken the £70 as we have better things to do this weekend so there's a good chance we will win now.
Getting sick of going down B6 after the last few years and the first 3 home games and defeats.
Something has to change quite frankly.

[Ads]

Another one of those strange "look at how little I give a shit" posts.

I will be doing the usual 200 mile round trip. But then I am a sad Villa bastard, who gets into work at 07:50, but instead of doing that pile of statements, sits and posts on H&V. But then if I'm a sad chap, Christ knows what makes those who get into work early merely to post how little they care.

[silhillvilla]

Just because I'm not going don't mean I don't care ! See you at Hull if you can be arsed. 

[Dr Butler]

Another one of those strange "look at how little I give a shit" posts.

I will be doing the usual 200 mile round trip. But then I am a sad Villa bastard, who gets into work at 07:50, but instead of doing that pile of statements, sits and posts on H&V. But then if I'm a sad chap, Christ knows what makes those who get into work early merely to post how little they care.

fecking hell...this is me, glad I'm not alone Ads.

and yes I will be there tomorrow....

UTV
The Doc

[Mister E]

Another one of those strange "look at how little I give a shit" posts.

I will be doing the usual 200 mile round trip. But then I am a sad Villa bastard, who gets into work at 07:50, but instead of doing that pile of statements, sits and posts on H&V. But then if I'm a sad chap, Christ knows what makes those who get into work early merely to post how little they care.

fecking hell...this is me, glad I'm not alone Ads.

and yes I will be there tomorrow....

UTV
The Doc

I'll be there - 250 mile round trip  ... and the missus will be with me, so we're bound to lose (they always do when she comes to VP).

I am geneuinely surprised that people seem to have taken the Tuesday game almost in isolation of the rest of the season. As said elsewhere, the first three P'ship games were encouraging and deserved more points than we garnered.  Against Norwich we showed resilience and a winning attitude (yeah, okay, our lackadaisical approach against the Barcodes was concerning).

In the light of injuries and fitness doubts to several players, Tuesday gave Lambert the chance to give much-needed experience to several players and we lost to a club that has made quantum leaps compared to us in the last 2-3 seasons.

I'm not happy with some aspects of this season but it is  still very much a work-in-progress project.

[andyh]

I think a lot of the 'hysteria' over Tuesday nights result is not necessarily because of the result.
I think its the slow realisation that we are not much (if any) better than the that few seasons. There was no magic fix over the summer, and the few signings that we made are not going to catapult us back into a team capable of contending.
There is no doubt that the way we try and play is a 1000 times more watchable than under TSM.
 But, on the whole we are a team who struggle to string two results together. We are totally, and utterly ineffective at home, and depend far too much on one player.

I still have confidence in the manager. He can obviously spot a player, but I think he will be more miss than hit on that front.
The problem is, if you are always shopping in the bargain basement, you may get the odd bargain, but on the whole you are not going to pick up the quality goods.
That was shown up all too clearly on Tuesday. Yes, it was a 'weakened' team but it still contained 5 or 6 regular first teamers from last season and this. It also contained at least 2 new boys who will be regular starters this season (Kozak and Bacuna). That  'weakened' team still contained first team squad members. It was not full of inexperienced kids or trainees.
In truth, we were simply outclassed and soundly beaten, again.
As much as we want to agree that we are still 'in transition', results and performances such as Tuesday quickly remind us just how far behind the 'big boys' we really are.

[paul_e]

In the light of injuries and fitness doubts to several players, Tuesday gave Lambert the chance to give much-needed experience to several players and we lost to a club that has made quantum leaps compared to us in the last 2-3 seasons.

Even given the differences in finance and squad a correct decision of penalty and red card to Vertongen and the result may have been completely different.  After that we were poor, there's no arguing with that, but the point remains that things could've been very different with a proper decision from the ref.  Add to that them then going down the other end and scoring with a guy going for a ball with studs showing at chest height and you get the impression it was never going to be our night.

This isn't an excuse and I'm far from happy with the performance in the 2nd half but we took 2 hefty sucker punches in a matter of 2 minutes that put us on the ropes and the team we had out didn't have the experience or quality to come back from that, and I don't think many sides in the league do have, with equivalent injuries, etc.

[eastie]

we have been outplayed at home and yet matched the likes of Chelsea and arsenal away , this would suggest the problem is the way we set up to play at home

We must find a system of playing at villa park which puts pressure on the opposition and creates chances .

[Dr Butler]

In the light of injuries and fitness doubts to several players, Tuesday gave Lambert the chance to give much-needed experience to several players and we lost to a club that has made quantum leaps compared to us in the last 2-3 seasons.

Even given the differences in finance and squad a correct decision of penalty and red card to Vertongen and the result may have been completely different.  After that we were poor, there's no arguing with that, but the point remains that things could've been very different with a proper decision from the ref.  Add to that them then going down the other end and scoring with a guy going for a ball with studs showing at chest height and you get the impression it was never going to be our night.
This isn't an excuse and I'm far from happy with the performance in the 2nd half but we took 2 hefty sucker punches in a matter of 2 minutes that put us on the ropes and the team we had out didn't have the experience or quality to come back from that, and I don't think many sides in the league do have, with equivalent injuries, etc.

this for me.

[dekko]

we have been outplayed at home and yet matched the likes of Chelsea and arsenal away , this would suggest the problem is the way we set up to play at home

We must find a system of playing at villa park which puts pressure on the opposition and creates chances .

Correct.

Is Manchester City at home (with your key player injured) is the best time to try a new system though?  One the one hand, they're not great away from home so far, and last time they had a big champions league tie in the week Pelligrini rotated the squad heavily (and almost lost to Stoke as a result).  On the other hand, even a weak City side could show up and dominate possession, so maybe the 'away tactics' might work here.......

[Clampy]

Another one of those strange "look at how little I give a shit" posts.

I will be doing the usual 200 mile round trip. But then I am a sad Villa bastard, who gets into work at 07:50, but instead of doing that pile of statements, sits and posts on H&V. But then if I'm a sad chap, Christ knows what makes those who get into work early merely to post how little they care.

fecking hell...this is me, glad I'm not alone Ads.

and yes I will be there tomorrow....

UTV
The Doc

I'll be there - 250 mile round trip  ... and the missus will be with me, so we're bound to lose (they always do when she comes to VP).

I am geneuinely surprised that people seem to have taken the Tuesday game almost in isolation of the rest of the season. As said elsewhere, the first three P'ship games were encouraging and deserved more points than we garnered.  Against Norwich we showed resilience and a winning attitude (yeah, okay, our lackadaisical approach against the Barcodes was concerning).

In the light of injuries and fitness doubts to several players, Tuesday gave Lambert the chance to give much-needed experience to several players and we lost to a club that has made quantum leaps compared to us in the last 2-3 seasons.

I'm not happy with some aspects of this season but it is  still very much a work-in-progress project.

Pretty much spot on really.