Eric Black

[paul_e]

we have been shit all season, and the bit where we've played the worst football, taken the biggest beatings and looked least threatening has been the last 7 games.  All at a time when the fans had accepted relegation and just wanted to black a few eyes before we went and Black chose to not even swing a punch.

[Chico Hamilton III]

Started bad, went a bit more bad, now we're fucking terribly bad.

Season summed up in a dozen words. Just saved me reading through 63 pages.

[Clampy]

we have been shit all season, and the bit where we've played the worst football, taken the biggest beatings and looked least threatening has been the last 7 games.  All at a time when the fans had accepted relegation and just wanted to black a few eyes before we went and Black chose to not even swing a punch.

The biggest beating was Liverpool at home under Garde and we lost 4-0 away at Everton, and at home to Man City and we lost 4-0 at home to Chelsea. Even Watford and Sunderland put 3 past us earlier in the season. It's been like it all season. The rot had set in. It just carried on under Black.

[aj2k77]

The game was over after 300 seconds, from then on it was another training game for Arsenal.

Hasn't that been the case for most of the season?

No. I can't recall conceding too many goals in the first 10 minutes. I do know that we've conceded 4 or more as many times in Blacks tenure, 3 as we have in the other 31 games of the season. So what he has tried has failed miserably.

I suggest you look through the season's results. We were conceding plenty of goals before he took over.

I've posted the stats 1 page back in a comment that you've replied to.  I didn't include the sherwood games but it was 1.81 goals per game under Sherwood, 1.9 under Garde and 2.57 under Black.  We were bad, he made us a lot worse.

Made us defensively worse despite playing about 8 defensive minded players each game.... How much of it you can attribute to the players completely giving up with relegation confirmed and how much is Black being even shitter than the shit we've had up till then I don't know but the numbers speak for themselves. I also go by my eyes and we've been worse.

[peter w]

Are the goal anywhere  - could not watch MOTD

How bad was Bunn's OG?

Very unlucky. made a great diving save from Arteta, ball went on to the bar rebounded onto his back and in.

Unlucky apart from the bit where the Arsenal player strolls to the edge of our box uncontested, plays the ball out wide  it gets pulled back and Arteta  is waiting unchallenged or marked for a free shot. The defending was abysmal.

The question was how bad the own goal was not what led up to it.

[pbavfckuwait]

Defended well yesterday, errmm, Arsenal centre forward left all alone in the centre of the box, 1-0, second goal three chances to clear 2-0, third goal, Toner drops while the rest of the line push up, Arsenal centre forward free to grab hat trick, Richards stands on the ball, ball played wide, Sanchez I think (Arsenal) gets to the bye line, pulls back across packed villa defense, towards the edge of the area, Arteta strolls onto the ball unchallenged (Westwood did point him out thou), beats Bunn, ball comes back of the bar hits Bunn on back and goes in. The above is a basic summary of our improved defensive performance yesterday.
It was also stated yesterday by one of the commentators on Bein, that Richards in the last five games he had been involved in, we had shipped 21 goals, so that now becomes 25 in 6 games, with those sort of stats, I would have appreciated a man with over 35 years of experience, just maybe could see that Richards really should be nowhere near the match day squad, but hey ho some people saw an improvement. WTF.

[peter w]

No Black didn't make us worse. Okore got the hump so was dispatched, Clark was in and out because of injury/loss of form, and the players had thrown the towel in. Garde did not have that to contend with on top of Gabby and so even though it didn't improve under Black it was not down to him. The rot, and the players attitudes had started to go before he took over. It was like watching dry rot setting in and then collapsing under the weight of its own badness. Black was just the last support thrown in but not to make any structural changes but just long enough to be able to sell house.

[pbavfckuwait]

Peter W, how about
Sherwood Shit
Garde Shit
Black Shit,
they have all been shit we are down for ffs

[ChicagoLion]

Black has been completely useless.

[LeeS]

LeeS I don't know about that, you're absolutely correct with the 2nd and 3rd paragraphs but the first one just begs the question who would tell him to play football so shit and to what end?  On top of that how weak and pathetic would you have to be accept it?  I just don't buy it, I have no idea what was going through his head when he decided to concentrate on defensive stability (and conceded 2.57 goals a game - compared to 1.9 for Garde who couldn't be shitter) and completely abandon any suggestion of attacking threat but it I do believe that's where it came from.

Just my attempt at sarcasm. He is the worst manager I've ever seen and should be banned from the game. Forever.

[peter w]

Peter W, how about
Sherwood Shit
Garde Shit
Black Shit,
they have all been shit we are down for ffs

Yes, they have. That's kind of the point. However, two of them were appointed to be the manager and one of them was asked to fill in. Not his fault that he couldn't change anything because the damage had been done. He's got a good reputation as a coach and a number 2 and he will get plenty of job offers for next season. He's not a manager, never has been one, and there is probably a reason why he doesn't apply for full-time manager positions.

It's the reaction to him I'm batting against.

[LeeS]

Peter W, how about
Sherwood Shit
Garde Shit
Black Shit,
they have all been shit we are down for ffs

Yes, they have. That's kind of the point. However, two of them were appointed to be the manager and one of them was asked to fill in. Not his fault that he couldn't change anything because the damage had been done. He's got a good reputation as a coach and a number 2 and he will get plenty of job offers for next season. He's not a manager, never has been one, and there is probably a reason why he doesn't apply for full-time manager positions.

It's the reaction to him I'm batting against.

You make a good point, Peter. He didn't ask for the job and he couldn't realistically save us from relegation. But the leaf mulch I spread around my roses could have done a better job at managing us than he has. He was singularly awful and should hang his head in shame after picking those sides week in week out. It was inexplicable.

[pbavfckuwait]

But Peter that reaction is to be expected, we have had 6 years of having our expectations lowered and lowered, then we finally achieve those expectations and instead of "Oh what the hell" we get a guy for whatever reason, sets out a team to avoid defeat at all costs, with the players within the squad, who he was coaching prior to being caretaker, if he could not see that they cannot defend, they cannot concentrate, they have no obvious talent for football, even when he decides to bolster that back line by placing as many defensive midfielders onto the pitch as possible and that being with his 35 years of experience, I am stunned you are surprised or can find it within yourself to support this no mark.
He is a measure of our management appointments since TSM1 and that when he had an opportunity to at least give it a go, he had nothing to lose. Read the pre match threads, a conservative guess at the average score prediction would be at least 3 or 4, not just to the good teams but to every team, I would have hoped he could just have give it a go, sadly he didnt and I now wish him all the best in his journey to join the club, of Mcleish, Lambert, Sherwood, Garde,Turner and McNeil all people who had the honor of managing Aston Villa football club and all gloriously fucked up.

[ChicagoLion]

I think 63 pages on this no mark speaks for itself, and 95% of it is negative.

[Nunkin1965]

Can I just say that I had a fantastic day yesterday with the Longbridge Lions. Shout out to organiser Trevor and Armani/Banana man Kenny. Top lads.

Eric Black missed a great opportunity during his tenure as he didn't try a few things with his selections. I wouldn't have cared less if they hadn't worked out. At least he could have tried.

During his reign we'd lost all of those games before a ball was kicked (except against the Toon).