Pre-Season Friendlies

[Lky]

Utter crap Brian. The players last year did not under perform. They are crap and will be crap this year. Going down a division does not make you a better player. We desperately need flesh blood. Dr Xia - have you got any money or not ?

[oldhill_avfc]

Respect oldhill but the players last season played massively below their actual abilities.  Every man jack of them had played better for other sides or for better motivators.

Not so sure about that.

Westwood, Hutton, Sanchez, Bacuna, Cisshoko, Clark, Baker, Gabby, Richardson, Gill, Sinclair, etc - none of these massively underperformed - they may have played slightly better in other situations, but not massively below their abilities.

Then you add in the untested Ayew, Veretout, Gana, Traore and Amavi - who knows what they're capable of, they might improve with the right manager but there's no obvious great talents that dramatically underperformed.

I think we are deluding ourselves and seting up another manager to fail if you think all they have to do is shout at the players and tell them to try harder. 

If only life was that simple.

[tony scott]

I don't think our flair players can score regularly our constantly provide the killer pass.  These players get plenty of possession and do very little with it.  I wonder if you asked them to describe their role in the team what there answer would be.

[peter w]

I think it's more to do with poor scouting and buying the wrong players than development. I asked a Liverpool fan that i worked with about Cissokho when we bought him and he said that he was a decent enough defender, but was woeful in possession which was the issue Liverpool fans had with him. It's pretty much what we've seen.

In Islamabad me and my rangers mate watched Rangers and then Villa virtually every weekend live so i saw a fair bit of Hutton. he was a marauding full-back he scored the odd goal and had a hand in quite a few. He looked quality and then went to tottenham for something like 9 or 10 million. I thought he'd be what Walker is now but he failed to push on and was signed by us, but that rangers player has never been seen in England bar the odd good performance.

Westwood was getting plaudits in his first season or two but has since gone backwards as one by one players have been sold off and our set-up has become more and more aimless.

It's just a general all round malaise. We are like the Tories with austerity. Stripped back bit by bit to the point where it stops working. And we did. In just about every department.

[brian green]

But life is that simple oldhill.  Every one, every one, has shown that he is capable of playing to a higher level than they did when they amassed 17 points and 3 wins in a season for us.  That tells me one thing, perhaps it tells you something else, but it tells me that they are not motivated. Shouting at them would be a good start, in my humble and simplistic view.

[DeKuip]

Three teams well supported in today's friendlies in Brum:
Villa attendance 14,863 (869 Boro)
Small Heath: 4,218 (436 Roda)

[AGRIPPA]

Gestede is ok in the Championship as proven at Blackburn where he was given the service by wingers who played to his strengths, as proven by his goal tally. We gave him no crosses of note today, as we had zero width. Great planning and tactics there....

He is gash....stop making excuses for him... He's as static as a MFI cabinet....no.......sorry...that has more movement.

[oldhill_avfc]

But life is that simple oldhill.  Every one, every one, has shown that he is capable of playing to a higher level than they did when they amassed 17 points and 3 wins in a season for us.  That tells me one thing, perhaps it tells you something else, but it tells me that they are not motivated. Shouting at them would be a good start, in my humble and simplistic view.

17 points and 3 wins tells me, that as a group of players, that they well below the standard needed .  If they'd missed out by a point or two then I'd agree that motivation might have been a deciding factor. 

You always come across as a well rounded, educated sort of chap, but now you think that shouting at them is the answer.   

I know you're frustrated, but seriously do you really believe that?

How many points do you think we would have got if  say Pearson taken over from Sherwood instead of Garde?

[Lky]

I just cant agree that our players are under performing. I've not seen them play enough for other clubs - fair enough. I have seen them play every match for Villa either live or via the internet. The defenders make mistake after mistake, the midfielders don't create or score and the forwards don't score, the game is simple - the players who played last year ain't good enough and they need to be replaced.

[pooligan]

Some fans say it is only a friendly,but as someone  said earlier it was only a friendly for Boro to .Today reminded me of the pre season friendly last season when Fulham beat us 3-1 .We looked totally clueless in that game and we all know what followed .Today worried me that we are going into this season with the same  players who just are not good enough.The two full backs are very poor ,Westwood as usual did nothing of note,there is no pace in the midfield and still we have no width.Fans go on about Gestede and i have to say he looks bloody awful but i am convinced ,give him a decent service and he will score goals.Biggest concern for me though is reading our manager saying he will give Gabby another chance .How that guy pulls the wool over every manger's eyes just amazes me

[oldham_villa]

I wonder how much pressure he is under to use what we have - let's face it, it's a business, and we probably can't afford to be writing lots of money off

[villan from luton]

Utter crap Brian. The players last year did not under perform. They are crap and will be crap this year. Going down a division does not make you a better player. We desperately need flesh blood. Dr Xia - have you got any money or not ?

Totally disagree, they massively under performed just like Leicesters over performed

[Cliftonville Villain]

And we go again making excuses... it's only a friendly, it's all about fitness, giving the squad the benefit of the doubt, RDM needs to see the squad for himself, blah, blah, blah. We've just lost another game (at home) with the same useless squad, same useless tactics and the now accustomed collapse. Are we seriously expecting promotion with a squad of Gestede, Bacuna, Westwood, Cissokho together with the cancer of Agbonlahor, Richards and Lescott? I hope and pray Xia isn't full of shit because if he is, we've still to bottom out. I'm just sick if now. Tired.

[ChicagoLion]

Nothing surprising, we put the same players out that put us in this situation.
My biggest concern is that the new Management has not realised how big a transformation is needed.
if they think that they can build a team around this squad then we might as well look forward to scrapping to stay in this league.

[villan from luton]

Nothing surprising, we put the same players out that put us in this situation.
My biggest concern is that the new Management has not realised how big a transformation is needed.
if they think that they can build a team around this squad then we might as well look forward to scrapping to stay in this league.

As someone who has seen Villa in the old third division, I think we should hold fire. Gestede wont get goals in that set up, no crosses. If we are going to play that way, and I think it will be hard in the championship, we need a pacey person up top