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

[Toronto Villa]

Clampy really has got his arse in his hand tonight, hasn't he?

And he's 100% right. We are feeling utterly shit. Just in different ways. There's nobody on here though that feels that more than anyone else. That's the point he was making.

[Clark W Griswold]

Well I've got a pretty heavy cold as well so u can assure you I'm hurting a bit more than anyone.

[tomd2103]

I'm convinced we have the basis of a decent side

I have been thinking that for a while, but on my walk back to the car from the ground after the game, the thought hit me that we have a team of players who are at best average and all consistently make mistakes.  Guzan and the defenders - not capable of keeping clean sheets and all make costly errors.  Midfield give the ball away far too often, many times under little or no pressure.  Forwards and wide players - give the ball away far too easily and then when chances do arise to get crosses of play balls in, the quality is not there.  When you also factor in there is a lack of desire and discipline, it makes for a poor team. 

[john2710]

Well I've got a pretty heavy cold as well so u can assure you I'm hurting a bit more than anyone.

I've got a heavy heart, but I doubt I'm alone.

[OzVilla]

I woke at 3 am this morning, checked the score on my phone and spent the next hour and a half staring at the ceiling coming to terms with our relegation.

It's wretched and has been for years. I'm sick of the humiliation. The Championship cannot, cannot be worse than this has been.

Think about it, we've been statistically the worst professional football team in England over the last 5 seasons. Fuck the division, I just want a competitive team again. I've had enough of this shit.

[Steve67]

I'm convinced we have the basis of a decent side

I have been thinking that for a while, but on my walk back to the car from the ground after the game, the thought hit me that we have a team of players who are at best average and all consistently make mistakes.  Guzan and the defenders - not capable of keeping clean sheets and all make costly errors.  Midfield give the ball away far too often, many times under little or no pressure.  Forwards and wide players - give the ball away far too easily and then when chances do arise to get crosses of play balls in, the quality is not there.  When you also factor in there is a lack of desire and discipline, it makes for a poor team. 

There is a reason that we have bummed around the bottom six for the last five years, it's because we've had Manager's who think the likes of Guzan, Clark, Richardson and Westwood are good enough to move the club forward. Absolutely crap players.

[ROBBO]

We do have good players but our two key positions are so weak, Richards is no centre half and Gestede is no footballer. Every time the ball gets into our box i expect the opposition to score, when i look back at some of our past defenders we've derided as not being good enough and look at what we've got now i shake my head. Can we get Vlar back

[supertom]

I think we actually need the championship at this point. Tear the club apart, rebuild it and go again, but it has to be done right. We don't want to do a Wigan/Portsmouth/Leeds etc. When Newcastle went down they kept a handful of players who could shine in the Championship and then bought quite sensibly for that division. West Ham too.

We can begin the process by flogging off 2-3 players in Jan before their value may drop in the summer, or McGrath forbid any relegation clauses are activated. I think barring a massive improvement in his displays, Grealish may well stay on, as no one will pay for what we may value for him, and a year in the Championship might be good for him. I'd also like to think that his love of the club would outweigh him wanting to line his pockets for any Prem clubs that sniff around.

Gabby can most definitely chuff off though, along with the likes of Richardson who is completely done as a player at any reasonable sort of level.

Press the plunger. Kaboom. Sweep away the rubble and start again. And first order of business should be for Randy to cut his lossess and bugger off.

By the way, none of you hurt more than me right now. I accidentally stubbed my ruddy toe. The pain is excruciating. No man has ever suffered worse pain than this. 

[aj2k77]

Vlaar never even thanked us for the support the club gave him or the fans support during all the time he spent injured. He's just slinked off in to the night. I would not want that man back at the club.

[wittonwarrior]

So many accurate observations.  If only we could defend.

One thing not mentioned to date as far as I can see is  Hutton's  lack of fitness.  A  football game is measured over a time period of some 90 minutes.  Hutton although a half  decent first half seemed  to be more knackered than any greyhound  Steptoe  and Son ever bought come the second half.

Oh well bring on Coventry and Walsall.

[supertom]

Vlaar never even thanked us for the support the club gave him or the fans support during all the time he spent injured. He's just slinked off in to the night. I would not want that man back at the club.

Me neither. Always thought he was better than that, but to be honest the last 6 months at the club didn't really do his character reference that much good. Bang average player too.

[supertom]

So many accurate observations.  If only we could defend.

One thing not mentioned to date as far as I can see is  Hutton's  lack of fitness.  A  football game is measured over a time period of some 90 minutes.  Hutton although a half  decent first half seemed  to be more knackered than any greyhound  Steptoe  and Son ever bought come the second half.

Oh well bring on Coventry and Walsall.

I think in part it's due to the fact that persistently our right side is very light. Our right backs, since Lambert took over, have had to create the vast majority of our balance and width. Hutton is covering a lot of mileage and at 31 (as of Monday) it's going to take it's toll a little. He rarely has anyone in front of him who supports when he attacks or helps when he defends.
I like Hutton in as much as he's a dirty bastard and a hard worker. We need a little more like that. It's just a shame he's not a very good footballer with it. But he's at least got a smidge of gumption which is more than can be said of most of the feckless feckers.

[PeterWithesShin]

In fairness to Hutton he probably covers more ground than anyone as he's constantly up and down the wing.

As for Vlaar, no chance, the defence was just as shit with him in it as it is now. And that's before you take into account he missed about a third of games through injury. I'd rather bring Senderos into the squad in Jan than Vlaar.

[saunders_heroes]

I thought Senderos looked decent at the start of last season and then he vanished with a mystery injury. What a bizarre signing, but he at least should be given a squad place what with us being so bloody desperate. At least he has PL experience.

[supertom]

I think there's still hope for Richards in the middle, but only if we bring in an experienced leader in January. An organiser. Someone to keep Richards on a leash and in position. Quite who that would be I don't know. Definitely not Vlaar. We could do with Laursen mk2.