Former PL club Aston Villa 2-3 Watford - post mortem thread

[Legion]

I thought we looked pretty good going forward, but we lacked a clinical striker. Defensively we were a shambles. Shocking.

[Goldie.7]

What has Garde said after the game?

"We are in trouble"

[brontebilly]

That one was just painful. It really hurt.

The team has stunk for the last few weeks but they actually played well today. But the problem with being so bad for so long is the amount of importance attached to a game like that breeds anxiety, and you could see it in our defence. That said, one own goal and two cases of a ricochet from a half blocked shot leading to them scoring. I know people are having a go at Clark for the 3rd goal but when a ball loops up like that, it will always favour the guy who can have a run at it. The first goal was a panic-ridden shambles but when your luck's in, you get away with it.

We are so bad it barely feels real. I hate been an ex-pat at times like this. All the Villa fans I knew on Malta have left so I suffer in isolation. I would rather be at Villa Park, at least surrounded by people who feel as shit as I do.

Clark didnt even get off the ground though for the third goal, Deeney got up before him. Cracking header but if Clark at a minimum jumped the shot would most likely have hit his head and gone over. The picture of the goal looks very bad for CC. The own goal was unfortunate, Hutton did the right thing as Ighalo looked ready to shoot with his left. We really didnt have any luck today

[CJ]

Well that's that. Championship here we come. They should have binned Sherwood and got Fat Sam in during the first international break, given him 2 years to stabilise us, and then got someone more imaginative in like Garde. I don't think Garde is the man to get us out of the shit now, and we're too deep in it anyway. Lerner has done to us exactly what he did to the Cleveland Browns, and he couldn't have picked a worse time to see us get relegated. The huge TV money comes in next season, so even if we get back up we'll never catch up with the teams with a big money start on us. And he can't wave his cheque book to get a Bent=esque escape this time - who could get us out of it and who the fuck would want to come to us anyway? Thanks for ruining this famous club Mr Lerner. Thanks a bundle. I'll be sending the 'Bright Future' part of my scarf back to the club

[rougegorge]

I thought after we came back in the first half to dominate after conceding, that we'd go on to win, but I'd obviously put to one side how bad our defending is. Calamitous own goal and the third was another typical effort.

Starting the 2nd half so slowly after the tempo before half time was  inexcusable, as it gave them time to settle more. The Sanchez-Richardson-Clark-Guzan combo just wasted so much time, let the opposition form up, then lost possession or resulted in a Guzan hoof which anyone of the others could've done.

Also not putting the Lithuanian guy in goal was equally inexcusable. We didn't make Gomes work enough before that and neither of them could hold anything.

They have a foreign manager new to the prem and a host of unknown new foreign players like us, but look at the difference.

We could easily expunge Derby's record at this rate.

[Olof's Beard]

One thing I will say though - has there ever been a situation where a couple of seemingly small decisions like Sherwoods substitutions against Leicester had a greater impact on the varying fortune of two teams.

If he makes the right changes at 2-0, I honestly think Leicester would be nowhere near the top 6, Vardy would not have a goalscoring record, we would be in mid table and Sherwood would still be our manager. If we had seen that game through, there would have been one point between us and Leicester on that day. Just look at the difference now. Our confidence disappeared in the last 15 minutes of that game, and theirs rocketed.

[Lobsterboy]

Today was the day all hope was lost. We are cut adrift and as good as down after only 14 games. We are an absolute embarrassment. I'll keep cheering every goal, every half decent performance, every point (if we ever get another one) until the very end but I know we are going down. It will be a long and painful six months watching us get relegated but after five seasons of being utter shit and me having my weekend ruined after every single game it's probably for the best #avfc #utv #vtid

[clash city rocker]

We came back from the old 3rd division to be champions of Europe.  We'll do it again. Just hope my daughter can afford the airfare  back from some far flung galaxy for the final.Hate for her to miss it.

[mr-villa]

Well that's that. Championship here we come. They should have binned Sherwood and got Fat Sam in during the first international break, given him 2 years to stabilise us, and then got someone more imaginative in like Garde. I don't think Garde is the man to get us out of the shit now, and we're too deep in it anyway. Lerner has done to us exactly what he did to the Cleveland Browns, and he couldn't have picked a worse time to see us get relegated. The huge TV money comes in next season, so even if we get back up we'll never catch up with the teams with a big money start on us. And he can't wave his cheque book to get a Bent=esque escape this time - who could get us out of it and who the fuck would want to come to us anyway? Thanks for ruining this famous club Mr Lerner. Thanks a bundle. I'll be sending the 'Bright Future' part of my scarf back to the club

Get real most clubs in the PL are there making up the numbers anyway, just study who has made up the top 4 over the last 15 years its the same teams year in year out.  If we are honest the PL is boring, being in it has become boring, there is no evidence to show Sky are increasing their subscriber base on the back of them having a great product.  Scudamore knows the future big money lies overseas and he is gunning to do with the PL what the NFL have done and expand the "franchise" overseas.  Our UEFA coefficient is in decline cos our teams are shit in Europe, we are about to lose one of our 4 CL places if our so called PL saviour teams continue to perform poorly in Europe.  Thats cos our PL teams don't contain the worlds best players just guys here for the money.  Don't get me wrong I would rather be in it than not but lets not kid ourselves we are only one of about 15 clubs who just fulfill the fixtures season in season out.  I want us to be involved in a competitive league and that's not the case right now.  Given that I'm up for a season in the Championship. bring it on it will be far more fun.

[mr woo]

Can't be arsed to comment on the game or performance, it'd be stating the obvious and missing the point.

I said several years ago that Randy Lerner was not far off being a great owner and chairman, he was just one intelligent managerial appointment from being so.
I have no idea to what point delegation has come into play in the five choices he's made, but my god, its almost impossible to believe we could stumble from one pathetic decision followed, almost entirely predictably, by an even worse one.

I dont blame Garde, Sherwood, Lambert, McLeish or Houllier. I blame the fucking idiot that thought it would be a good idea to give them the job in the first place.

You watch Albion and Sunderland pull away from trouble with their boring 'not good enough for us' managers. 
Some people needed to wake up years ago when we were crying out for tedious mid table stability instead of gambling on punching above our weight.

Now, barring a miracle, its too late.

[KevinGage]

Whoever came up with this transfer committee bollocks, take a look in the mirror.

Actually, the transfer committee is not a terrible idea.

We've had too many instances recently of a manager coming in for two years or less, signing expensive players on long contracts and then all change, as a new manager comes in with his own ideas and alienates the previous lot.

No other business would give that level of responsibility to someone whose own position was so precarious.

Where we have shanked it (in common with just about every other major Lerner decision since 2010) is in the execution.

Almstadt might have had Veretout, Amavi, Gueye and Ayew on the radar from his time at Arsenal.  Having watched them for a while, He might have deemed that they they aren't ultimately good enough for Arsenal, but plenty good enough for a side like ours.  And there might be a degree of logic to that.

What that ignores is issues they might have in settling at a club like Villa.  It's one thing being on the fringes of a decent side in London, quite another being marooned (as they might see it) in Birmingham.

Veretout in particular has had difficulty settling apparently, with a young family and problems with the language.

I don't want to single the French players out, as -in truth- they have provided some of our better moments.

But we needed them to hit the ground running, and they clearly haven't done that. Signing one or two and allowing them the time to get up to speed would have been far more preferable than having four all trying to find their feet at the same time.

If the English market currently lacks value (and it does), Scandinavian, Dutch, German and Belgian  players have traditionally found it easier to adapt to the game here.

Regardless, whoever ultimately decided in the summer that Gestede, Ayew and Gabby were the only forward options we required needs shooting.

[olaftab]

The team that's going to win the League usually contrives a win  when it plays badly. The team that's going to finish bottom in the League always contrive a defeat even when it plays well. We did that today and therefore we are done.

[Toronto Villa]

The current executive set up at the club isn't the issue. Neither is our approach to transfers. The question is whether it has happened all too late? Has too much damage been done for it to make a difference? We need to sustain it because even if we do go down we cannot afford to change directions again. It will kill us off completely.

[aj2k77]

The executive set up is an issue though because they will remain in their places as we tumble, what has made them qualified for the positions they currently occupy? I don't normally agree with Collymore on anything, he's a gobshite, but I agree with him that to a man everyone running the show at the Villa are working above their means. The set up itself isn't what's wrong, it's who's occupying those positions.

[wolfman999]

Whilst there is quite undestandably a resignation that relegation is inevitable, another point should not be missed. Getting back straight away is a must. Whoever gets relegated at the end of next season will go down with a massive payout which will then give them a huge financial advantage over the rest of the championship teams. Those three clubs may well be able to buy themselves straight back up by being able to afford much better players than the rest.