Aston 'where will it all end' Villa v Middlesvilla Post Match Thread.

[PeterWithesShin]

Which side in this division has a better player for player squad? Which side has better than Johnstone, Terry, Adomah, Kod, Chester, Taylor, Hotlips, Snodgrass, Onomah etc. Which club has a better 3rd, or even 4th choice RB than Hutton? Or a better 4th choice striker than Gabby. Better 4th choice CB than Elphick. And so on.

[Ads]

Who is Leeds 3rd choice striker? Who is Cardiff's back up RB, and how do they compare to ours? Who has a better CB than Chester, striker than Kod, LB than Taylor, keeper than Johnstone and so on. Individually our squad is a match for anyones, but we're currently significantly less than the sum of our parts and it comes back to Bruce and the coaches imo.

Yes, yes and thrice yes.

The idea that this squad isn't strong enough for the top two is quite incredible.

So you think it is the Managers fault?

What do you think?

[sirlordbaltimore]

I think some people vastly overate some of our squad. Boro spent 50m this summer apparently, just because i don't know their players it doesn't mean they aren't better than ours

I suspected straight off that Terry, Whelan and Elmo wouldn't look world beaters at this level as so it is. We'd have been just as well off getting in a few younger players on far less wages

[Ads]

It also means you don't know if they're any better than ours.

[PeterWithesShin]

And I think some people vastly underrate our squad because we're underperforming so badly. If we're such an average squad why do people struggle to say who has better? And that's kind of the point, you don't need to a world beater at this level, ideally better than most of the rest but have a manager that knows what he's doing. How many world beaters did Huddersfield have? Put Wagner in charge of us last season and Bruce in charge of them, who would you be betting on finishing higher?

[cheltenhamlion]

And I think some people vastly underrate our squad because we're underperforming so badly. If we're such an average squad why do people struggle to say who has better? And that's kind of the point, you don't need to a world beater at this level, ideally better than most of the rest but have a manager that knows what he's doing. How many world beaters did Huddersfield have? Put Wagner in charge of us last season and Bruce in charge of them, who would you be betting on finishing higher?

And that is the rub isn't it. I wouldn't have a single Cardiff player ahead of ours but they are 9 points in front.

Years ago I set up our Recovery unit at work. They are employed to get back money others owe us. It hasn't changed loads since I started it but now they are held up as an example of a high performing team in the business. Why?

Because subsequent managers took a good idea, added their own stamp and it went from strength to strength. In football terms think Swansea or Southampton.

It would be like someone taking over investigations and saying "I don't do planning investigations. I just want you to shout a lot". And that is where we are in Villa management currently.

[saunders_heroes]

I'm glad we're appealing Lansbury's sending off because it was complete bollocks. It was a yellow card and nothing else, but it just looked like the ref was determined to even up the red card count. Also I always thought players' gesturing for red cards was frowned upon in this country but obviously not considering nothing's been mentioned regarding the 'Boro players waving imaginary cards in the air. Wankers.

[eamonn]

Lots of insurance metaphors, come on, has it come to this?

[Hookeysmith]

Lansbury did not trip the player, he raked his studs down his calf. Was a sending off I'm afraid. And fair play to Bruce very gentlemany to also play with 10 men in the first half by picking Bjork. What a shocking footballer.

[Ads]

I'm with you SH, never a sending off.

[taylorsworkrate]

I'm glad we're appealing Lansbury's sending off because it was complete bollocks. It was a yellow card and nothing else, but it just looked like the ref was determined to even up the red card count. Also I always thought players' gesturing for red cards was frowned upon in this country but obviously not considering nothing's been mentioned regarding the 'Boro players waving imaginary cards in the air. Wankers.

Lansbury had already been booked earlier in the match, so saying the ref was just evening up with the red card is wrong. He could have just showed him the 2nd yellow if that was the case, and I doubt anyone could genuinely argue that Lansbury's challenge at the very least didn't deserve a yellow card.

I for one would love to see those sort of cheating, cynical challenges met with a straight red everytime. For way too long, players have got away with "taking one for the team" and deliberately bringing down an attacking player knowing that the worst consequence is a yellow card.

[PeterWithesShin]

Snodgrass was booked in the first half, pretty sure Angie wasn't.

[taylorsworkrate]

Snodgrass was booked in the first half, pretty sure Angie wasn't.

I may be wrong on that, as I couldn't really tell from my position in the upper holte. Sky Sports News did say show the footage of the Lansbury sending off whilst saying "Lansbury, who was on a yellow card"

[PeterWithesShin]

Just checked Beeb and Sky and only Snodgrass was booked first half according to match reports and the live updates.

[richtheholtender]

"Only results matter"

3-0