Written by Damian Saturday, 18 April 2009 15:50
Despite us having probably 65% of the possession in the first half, 1-1 is a fair result, mostly because West Ham did create some very good chances early on.
It wasn´t one thing that let us down today. Formation was as expected and we were quite lucky that West Ham lined up in a 4-4-2 formation, the players played as well as they could and the support was very good.
If anything, today sort of shows that we are just missing the quality in the team to take us to the next level. We have good players, made a little better by the inspirational talk from the manager, but that really is all they are; good players.
It was an even playing field today and we drew at home to West Ham. We can say what we want to say but at the end of the day, if we are ever going to get to where we all want to be, then these are games we should be winning.
The manager has had three seasons, this summer is very important. He has to buy some real quality with the money he apparently has available to him.
I for one don´t think he has any money to take us to the next level and that Lerner is just another Doug Ellis, but I want to be wrong and this summer will tell us one way or another.
Anyway, your votes please for man of the match and we will publish the results tomorrow in the autopsy.
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Paul Egan
said:
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... It's difficult to choose a MOM, but I think I'd have to go for Friedel. He made a couple of crucial saves for us. We need to be more ruthless in front of goal and more organised at the back. The game was there for the winning today. |
Martin Clabon
said:
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... Thought we were easily the better team - could be viewing in Claret and Blue again, will have to see the match again to be sure Anyone remember what winning felt like? Will happen gain, don't know where, don't know when. Where's Churchill, we need you man |
Fitzy_7
said:
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... absolute no positives from this result.. a draw to a much weakened west ham side , and whats worse yet another late goal conceded by a fragile defence... i said when heskey was coming off to put on sidders or reo-coker and revert to 4-5-1 but he brings on young nathan who had no impact whatsoever and well the result speaks for itself pathetic... |
celtic_villain
said:
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... same old shite we are incredibly frail at the back and ifthis is not adressed this summer, blame is firmly on mon. he has to sort this out once and for all. no use relying on a crocked centre half which he inherited - anyone he has signed has been average at best at the back on the plus side another great performance from milner, thought the midfield did well in the middle, heskey was lazy once he scored though. carew did very well, hes really dangerous and holds up the ball so well, but we really need somebody clinical up there to feed off him |
Damian
said:
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... If Everton win the game in hand they have now we are 6th ... Still, a few games to go .. and I think 6th is as bad as it can get, but if any Villa fans still think we can get 4th, then there is every Chance West Ham could catch us .. just using the same mathematic equation. |
George Templeton
said:
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... Villa should've been home and hosed when West Ham scored. But we threw the points away again. Even still the ref missed a clear handball on West Ham at the end of the match. We got no favors from the referee today. |
Fitzy_7
said:
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... season over what odds will i get on villa not winning another game this season because im seriously considering it |
Paul Egan
said:
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... Everton's game in hand is away at Chelsea. I can't see them going above us just yet. |
Paul Egan
said:
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... And for all those saying that it's all hopeless and that there are no positives... The last 3 performances against Man U, Everton and West Ham are MUCH improved over the previous few weeks. The performances are there, we just need that edge going forward and some calm organisation at the back. We're not far off being back to our best. Just a shame it's coming too late. |
Martin Clabon
said:
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... WHam can not catch us, especially after today. They are not going to win all their games. Would be more concerned if it was a Spurs or Everton looking to come with a run. Our run is hardly the hardest so I still expect a strong finish despite our apalling form at the moment |
SlapAVFC
said:
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... we basically need a whole new defence and some goal poachers and then hopefully we will be better |
Anthony Laud
said:
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... what a pointless season! this result shows where we are. we are no better than west ham! ok we played better but the fact friedel was prob mom says a lot! our defence is shambolic! Oneil has been completely found out as has the team! damian - he prob wont get any money to spend this summer as he wasted it all last summer. I think we spent the 2nd most in england behind mancity and the 3rd most in europe behind inter and man city so why would a chairman give any more money when he can see for himself the signings especially defensively have been a joke! |
SlapAVFC
said:
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...And for all those saying that it's all hopeless and that there are no positives... what good are our performances if we have nothing to show for it accept a draw or loss |
Anthony Laud
said:
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... and on the defence i would rather have cahill and ridgewell back instead of cuellar davies or knight! Oneil has completely ruined our defence. got rid of young players spent a fortune on a load of c$rap. our 2 best defenders were signed by oleary and they may never play again! honestly how can our defence be this bad after 3 years and the amount of money he has spent!!! |
john franey
said:
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... I would love villa to go out in the summer and buy some real quality instead of promising youngsters and washed up bargin buys.I think the 2 arsenal games the man city at home game and bolton are really the only 3 games this season we really played well in and deserved to win |
Goldie 7
said:
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...One win will lead to more. Fitzy, I will take a bet with you I was saying that after the chelsea game lets stop banging on about that place that comes after 3rd I thought we had a decent squad going into the baggies match i honestly thought we maybe ready for the competition that's better than europa?? Since then we haven't done nothing to seal the reward that comes with getting infront of fifth and showing every other premier team we deserve ..... The best we can hope for is 5th or 6th you know what i would take it! It's still possible for us to finish 10th or 11th if worst comes to worst  |
Damian
said:
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... I´ve just looked at the poll results so far .. it baffles me how Barry can be joint top at the moment .. some one please tell me how he can be getting this .. am I blind? |
Goldie 7
said:
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... how many draws at villa park so far in all competitions  I'm sure its double figures by now |
Goldie 7
said:
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... Barry was trash today those who rated him highly didnt get a good stream he missed a sitter aswell It's no doubt Big Brad or Milner as soon as he went off we were rubbish ash should have gone for me |
Villadude
said:
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... Davies needs to be dropped! His positioning is shocking! Knight has been twice the player of davies and that's saying somethng. Heskey should have had a hatrick! Wasted performance - how we miss Martin. No leadership in the defence. Roll on next season! |
Goldie 7
said:
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...... Bang on............ |
Aero-For-Villa
said:
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... We are paying dearly for a problem i identified months before it actually came into play (not finishing off games). I said it had to be addressed before it starts costing us games but we didnt address it. We have a fantastic midfield that set up brilliant chances but when forwards are missing the most simple opportunities, we have to rely on the wobbliest defense in the League to stop a goal going in.... thats not going to happen! A defender or two of Martin Laursens caliber should have been signed ages ago to make sure it wasnt possible for the defense to turn this bad! The likes of Lescott or Per Mertesacker sould have been brought in as we knew Laursen was old and injury prone. It wasnt done and now with Laursen out and Mellberg gone, the Villa defense has no leaders and nobody to keep their mentality right on the pitch! ByeBye Champions League dreams.... thanks very much Martin O`Neill. UTV! |
Martin Clabon
said:
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... Two good experienced players - I am going for Senna and Diego - although channces are we would struggle to get them Then some good young players to give us some width to the squad. Not kids, players around 21 or 22 loking to better themselves - such as Wheater and Adam Johnson from Borough, Sturridge, Onouha, Richards, Michaal Johnson from City, Fox from Coventry, Leadley from Cardiff, Kightly and Ebanks Blake from Wolves, Fabian Delph from Leeds, Kyle Naughton from Sheff Utd. Just shows, not much is left for this season, moved on to transfer speculation already. Depends who leaves as well of course |
Chris Algie
said:
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... I thought Barry played well and he was given MOTM by the sponsors at Villa Park and by Talksport. Better team today but it's results that count and we should have had the game buried before their goal. Any chance we can sue West Ham for making us wear the wrong kit? |
ncav
said:
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... barry to payed well today - he is the passer in the team and we will be much weaker if he moves in the summer. the defence doesnt get a huge amount of protection, that said the centre back have been dreadful for so long now. i agree with a lot of other comments - we are desperately in need of real finisher to put away the number of chances we get!!! |
ncav
said:
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... sorry tht should have read: barry played well today and is the best passer in the team |
Spencer
said:
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... In the summer we need to ditch one of our current CB's and probably buy in another 2 of ML's quality. At the moment I'm not sure why Cuellar was rated so highly - maybe a EPL vs SPL comparison. Davis look good beside ML but aimless without him and Knight has done a job but won't get us to the next level. Is it too late to clone Paul McGrath? I think it's a bit early to assume there's no money available though and ridiculous to compare Randy to Doug. Had Doug still been here would MON have been able to spend the money he did last summer? If we manage to finish 5th then it will still represent progress and as long as we're progressing then that's a positive. |
Peter Dragoonis
said:
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... im not sure how we can think Lerner isnt going to give oneill money. last summer he spent £46m. that would never have happened in the days of ellis. saying that he hasnt got money available is just complete speculation with not one bit of supporting evidence. |
Peter Dragoonis
said:
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... onto todays game though, we really do need just a few top quality players. our players are good, maybe just the better side of good. so we have the basis of a great squad. we just need that final bit of quality to set us apart. |
Damian
said:
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... AVFC_Pete maybe it is speculation saying that he isn´t going to spend money but you saying he spent £46mn. is also a bit misleading, because there was £30mn. extra from the TV deal and it wasn´t his money - i fancy ellis might very well have put a very large chunk, if not all back in to players too, but we will never know lerner hasn´t spent anything the business cant quite easily afford to pay is my point - and we´ve had too many seasons of mediocre and the only reason davies was loaned for a season before getting bought was so the tv money could pay it .. why would he do that if there was all this money available to the manager? wait and see until the summer though and like i´ve said, i´d love to be wrong, but i doubt it. we have ellis v2.0 |
lucky4
said:
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... Weve had a good three quarters of the season but the last quarter has been a shambles! So to the neutrals who say weve had a tremedous season overall they are wrong,because its not how well youve done after 28 games its after 38 games that counts! Like wenger said its a marathon not a sprint and we would have had a great season if it were a sprint! |
gareth
said:
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... another home game another draw more ref blaming from mon more chances missed hitting the post or not amounts to the same as a high and wide if we had turned just five of those draws into wins we would be sittin pretty need anatural goal scorer an a cm that can score goals like all top sides have mon has to bite the bullit an pay over the odds an get one as he said he would if they would help the team in the long run an if the players he is after are not goin to do that why bother with them we are just gonna lose out to clubs who will go the extra mile i hate being so negative but i dont want a repeat of the mid 90s an hit a wall again then fall away as our best players ask for moves to reach the next level in there careers i know things are better than a few years ago but a golden chance was misssed in jan when we only signed heskey mom has to have a long look in the mirror at the end of the season an start to prove his worth in the transfer market or dare i say that he maybe has taken us as far as he can due to him being too stuck in his ways when it comes to bringin players in he is not at the foxes or the hoops where he had little or no money we are able to spend like big four but we can compete in the market an i feel mon is holding us back in that respect (cant believe i have given mon such a hard time) god what moan i have just had on to next week |
bob
said:
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... didn't davis loan coincide with WBA tax year? like they did with the goalkeeper they loaned out to manure the previous season. something to to with them balancing their books as well as us using the TV money. |
r0bb0
said:
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... There were times today when we played really clever inventive football. In the last two weeks we've played the two next best teams outside the top 4 while they are both having their best runs of the season and more than matched them. Ok, for those who believe we ought to be a top 4 team after 3 years with MON then we we're useless, all our players were useless and MON is useless. I'm gutted we didn't close out the game today but can just about see through that disappointment to try and be objective and see that have come a hell of a long way but are still work in progress. |
Damian
said:
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... r0bb0 No .. everyone got it, that is, every team in PL at the time the deal came into effect |
pete
said:
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... just got back sorry to say lads and lassies but the defence was a shambles. it was as if no one wants to take the leadership role. and playing like it was there first game togeather we realy need to go and get some bite in the back 4. even if it means mon has to go abroard because today a side on form would of had a field day with us |
James
said:
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... We were better than West Ham. Milner, Petrov and Barry looked very good in midfield. Carew should have scored at least 2. Shorey I like the look of, despite the odd error. He looks so positive coming forward. CB's Urrrrrrrrrrrrrrrm? Petrov MotM for me. |
r0bb0
said:
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... Matthew Clark. If you mean the result was awful, or the referee (and his linesman) were awful, or the teamwork at the back was awful....I'd agree with you. Did you mean any of those? |
Peter Dragoonis
said:
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... I have to disagree about the davies deal, west brom did the same with man united-they loaned them Kuszcak and sold him the following year as it suited them better with tax payments. ultimately though only time will tell if Lerner really is willing to invest. maybe im just being optimistic, or kidding myself. after years of ellis i just think i dont want to think we have another version. |
James
said:
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... Le Shafter Arsenal are great. I love them. I wish they had their own exciting blog for dull toss pots. |
Martin Clabon
said:
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... VillaBiker - Wheater from Boro will sign for us this summer and become a legend for the club. I haven't got any inside info, but I did dream he was coming and saw him holding a trophy above his head as captain, couldn't work out what trophy it was, hope not just the Coca Cola Cup. I just hope he isn't part of some passport scam, he is supposed to be about 22ish but he looks older than me. Will be Lion Heart's long term replacement, strong at the back and scores plenty goals. Reckon we could get him for £6M if Boro relegated. |
Martin Clabon
said:
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... Nan, Le Shava's ok, he values our opinion even if not our football team. Pitch didn't help Arsenal's passing game and suited Chelseas power and pragmatism more - goals from long balls Villa would have been proud of Looks like a disapointing season for Arsenal as I can't see you wining Champs League. Still, at least you can win the odd game, eh. |
Martin Clabon
said:
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... Nan, good to have our old mate back, hopefully you'll cheer up now. No I don't mean our friend from Arsenal. Expect he'll start taking the piss out of us soon and we'll wish he'd piss off again |
Andy Lochhead in the Air
said:
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... A couple of seasons ago we were nearly relegated and would have jumped at regular top 6 finish. The young players Davis, Ridgewell, Moore really were not good enough and although I was sad to see them go, we did well to get the money for them that we did. Deep down we all knew that we would struggle in the later part of the season, particularly if we lost key players, and losing Laursen has left us too fragile at the back. A couple of months ago we had 6 players in England squad so clearly the squad is heading in the right direction - just need to make sure we add quality and quantity in the summer. Keep the faith! |
John ava
said:
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... I am sooo pleased that Randy and martin came to our rescue following years of mediocrity(sorry Doug).I know little about Randy but MON is intelligent, well qualified and clearly has excellent people management skills.He has done a reasonalbe job thus far but we cant afford to get were never strong enough to sustain a carried away.He has bought just quite well, saved us from a Barry exit(albeit maybe temporarily) and the shoots of recovery are certainly present.We |
arsene wenger
said:
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... shit day for all of us,you lot dont fancer buyin denilson do ya? he turns like a fucking jumbo |
r0bb0
said:
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... Is there anyone on here who booed at the end? If so, what was your reason for booing? |
AvFc_DeC
said:
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... Andy Lochhead......thankyou. Its taken until now to realise how proud i am to support Aston Villa Football Club. Before i hated fellow fans that moaned at disappointing results and i now fear i am one of them. The problem is we are always talked of cause we are 'The Best of the Rest'so people believe we are better than we actually are which leads to expectation which in recent months has clearly got to the team. I now clearly remember the consistent poor performances we gave but yet the mighty villians roared.T Well now i shall roar louder and prouder. We are Aston Villa. The team that defied the odds and tickled the top 4. We do no longer but surely we can still be proud of what we've accomplished. So lets hear it for the boys in Claret and Blue! |
Woodinho
said:
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... So let me get this straight, sid had a dream of wheater coming whilst holding a trophy above his head?!?! Am I the only one who finds that quite worrying? Also Gareth, you ever heard of a full stop or a comma mate? I was readin your comment in my head and still ran out of breath!!! |
Nick
said:
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... I will cherish the day we play boring games and actually win. Well im not sure I will, I would love to get a couple and then say if I like it or not. Can we do that? Petrov was my motm, he was immense a class above. Friedel deserves some votes too, he made some great saves early on, he isnt washed up yet people. Actually most of our team played well going forward. I mean even Shorey was putting in absolute quality crosses, he is looking better and better each game, surprisingly. I thought we were shocking defensively again. Our defense split like the red sea early on there and I was having my now weekly heart attack. It looked like our midfield tired at around the 80 minute. Stan and Barry both looked tired, why not bring on one of Sidwell, NRC, or Gardner (in the center) to help them out? Im all about getting the Fonz some more playing time, but I am conflicted on that substitution. I think NRC, or Sidwell in a 4-5-1 would have been appropriate and play on the break. But im not MON. Anyway I told my brother Heskey was going to score if he started. Now we'll wait another 10 or whatever starts until his next. And we should have had a penalty for the intentional hand ball when Carew was going to score at the death. But hey that's football, and the score could have been like 5-5 if either side could finish. |
Nick
said:
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... I think Lerner will spend more money. I mean why do the Acorns deal and forfeit all that sponsor money if we need money? Im not saying we are going to become Chelsea and go on massive spending sprees, but if MON wants someone I dont believe Lerner will stand in his way. I believe he has backed MON this far and there is nothing except the terrible memories of the old regime that would make anyone think otherwise. just my thoughts on that subject |
Anthony Laud
said:
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... i dont understand why people want the over rated Upson or wheater or other defenders from the prem where will will have to pay what 15m for upson and a v high price for wheater as well! I wish MON had the ability to find talent in europe for way cheaper. ferguson got vidic for 8m. wenger Toure for next to nothis, benitez agger for 6m etc etc even oleary laursen for 3,5m! if we had a manager with any ability in the transfer window he could find theses players - none of those were superstars and unattainable. Instead mon will waste money on the shite he has already. he always goes on about not paying over the odds and yet by limiting the market he is in to what he does he forces himself to pay over the odds. 10M for Davies ffs who looks so out of his depth in the prem and if you look back to last season did then as well. |
It's me, kohoutek, but...
said:
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... I've been one of the optimistic 'sheep', but if I'd have been there today, I'd have booed at the end. Not long or loud, but for god's sake, is there not a man in the back four that can step up and take the lead? Can't the players close down and tackle quicker? Can't they see opposition moving to get open and cut off those lanes? We let them dance around and be dangerous at the end, just as we do every time we ship a late goal. At the end, West Ham were more aggressive winning the ball, moving into space, getting it forward...Watching Sunderland hold a 1-0 lead. They looked far more composed, aggressive, assured...Like I wrote on the other thread, it's like our brains shut off in the 75th or 80th minute. Everything is reasonably fine until the end, and they just fall apart like wet cardboard. I don't have their talent, but I swear I've got bigger balls. I'd rather get red-carded than just invite so much pressure and leave so much space. Sorry to go so negative, but this is just the players being gutless. I don't fault the talent level, the personnel choices...I question their collective will to win. Get some bloody mean tackles in at midfield, in their half. Slow the game, piss them off, keep the danger at bay. Or put all 10 players right in the box. We can play a 75-minute game. 90-95 minutes? A bridge too far. I guess my point is that we all knew in our guts that we were going to let them equalize after the 80th minute. And that represents a failure of will. |
Nick
said:
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... We are crying out for NRC in the last 10-15 minutes of games. I cant remember what he did so wrong to not get a look at his favored position which is a position that we -late in games anyway- are sorely lacking. Petrov and Barry were noticeably tired late in the game, and this wasnt the first time that I have noticed that. Even if MON is not going to bring one of them out, he has to at least see the problem and put NRC or another cm in to help see games out. CM is a position where we have some decent depth. Maybe not depth in creative guys, but we have 3 midfielders who we know can seriously get amongst it and put some tackles in. There is a time to use them. |
r0bb0
said:
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... I agree with Nick about the midfield tiring. My son and I both saw it and said we needed new legs out there. I was pleased to see Gardner come on, but I too would have preferred to see NRC or Sidwell come on instead of the 1 for 1 replacement up front. I can't agree with whoever it was who said we were gutless though. The players put in the effort yesterday. Milner had to go off because of cramp, and until the last 15 minutes I thought we put in plenty of tackles in midfield. They just ran out of steam. |
vogra
said:
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... Garbage result, MON please quit at the end of the season so we can get someone in who knows what he's doing in both the transfer market and on the pitch, You MON Sheep still thinks he's god, we've shown relegation form since January, and its lucky that Laursen wasnt injured at the start of the season. This is reason i was so happy Man Utd beat spurs in the Carling Cup and an extra place in the league would be freed up for the UEFA CUP as i knew we'de capitulate at the end of the season, i'm no manager but even i could see without extra resources and bodys brought in in January this would happen.. |
r0bb0
said:
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... The result was a real let down...i really believed that we would win yesterday, but the players just didn't take the chances that came their way. That's not MON's fault of course, it's up to the players once they're out on the pitch. I don't see MON as 'God', of course not, he makes mistakes just like the rest of us and he is intelligent and self aware enough to admit that. Let's just keep reminding ourselves where we have come from though and not delude ourselves into thinking that we'd be better off without him. If just one of our many chances had been put away the whole tone on here would have been completely different today.....thats a fact by the way, not an opinion. It hope that fans on here will remain objective rather than making emotion driven suggestions about what we should do now without having a sensible alternative. |
peter power
said:
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... please get martin jol down the villa as mon aint got a clue,he bought keane and berbatov and got the sack for spurs coming 5th and mon buys marlon and heskey and it looks like we will be 6th again and with jol we would have a chance of winning the europa cup!!ps villa v celtic in malaga on 29th july,were all off to sunny a ve va espana!!  |
r0bb0
said:
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... MON also bought Ashley Young and Milner....it's easy to pick out players selectively to try and illustrate a point, but not necessarily objective |
Nick
said:
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... We have come on leaps and bounds with MON. Every manager has tough times and bad spells of form and results. It would be the biggest mistake of all mistakes to start even talking about replacing MON at this point. And now to my biggest gripe: What has everyone learned about transfers? Here is a little lesson, there was once a player named Petrov... and now he is our player of the season. Understand? Stop prematurely judging MON on his transfers. Nicky Shorey, he is starting to look like a great left back. Friedel saved us how many times in that game? Luke Young who could arguably be in the race for player of the season, playing out of position. James Milner? John Carew? Ashley Young? Get the point? Go look around at any other managers transfers. They all make mistakes. But before branding players like Cuellar, Heskey, or Sidwell flops stop and think. Give them time to adjust and get a certain amount of games under their belts. Look what happened with Petrov. |
r0bb0
said:
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... It's probably unfashionable to say so, but I thought Heskey and Carew actually linked up pretty well yesterday. They are both intelligent players and I can imagine them enjoying playing together and working up a good understanding. |
Anthony Laud
said:
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... nick - you name 3 defensive players in your argument about not judging mon premarturely. ffs are defence has been worse this season that it has been for 20 years - he has bought overrated rubbish because he wont look abroad. the best signing apart from Young who has now been found out is prob Carew but mon didnt even want him - he was offered him in the Baros deal. He spent 40m on defensive players. dont make me laugh - shorey and great really should never be used in the same sentence! |
Nick
said:
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... shorey put in some GREAT crosses. go back and watch! Im saying there has not been enough time to properly judge the likes of Cuellar, L Young or Shorey yet. Friedel has been pretty good all season and Guzan has looked good with what little we have seen. If you count goalies as defense. Im with everyone else who is disgusted with our defense right now. And the back 4 have been very bad, but it is not just the back 4s responsibility. The west ham goal came from a clean shot at the very top of our box directly after a corner. That is not good enough, and it was Petrov and Ashley Young who were at the top of our box. What im saying is it will probably take our back 4 time to settle with all the new guys. Hell even Davies has rarely played without Laursen beside him. It's too soon to say they are completely rubbish, though they are making a pretty good argument for it with their recent performances. |
James
said:
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... Right this is getting a bit silly. What did you all think was achievable this season with MON as manager? What did you think COULD have been achieved with another manager e.g. Jol? I have been rightly accused of being an optimist. However some of you were obviously expecting to break into the Top 4 this season. There is optimism and then there is madness. Get real people. Another great season. Best of the underdogs. |
Oscars Arse
said:
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... Don't really wanna drone on about days gone by but, I remember a couple of players of yesteryear who didn't really do well in their first season at VP. Denis Mortimer and Ken McNaught and the eyebrows that were raised when Peter Withe was signed. Im glad we haven't qualified for the CL because we would be embarrassed at the moment. We need a couple of seasons of regular european football for players to get accustomed to it. Yes, yesterday was frustrating as has the past few months but apart from the Liverpool game can you remember a Villa team that has fought back like they did against Man U. OK we lost the game to a hit and wish goal but the signs are there that we can mix it with the so called top 4. One word patiience!!! |
Spencer
said:
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... Vogra you sound how I imagine all those over expectant Spurs fans must've sounded right before they got rid of Jol, the best manager they'd had in years (and are only just recovered from now). I imagine they were OUTRAGED that they'd only finished 5th for two seasons in a row, I'm sure they thought that another manager would step in and walk them into the top 4 -no problem! After all they'd spent a lot of money (Spurshave spent a LOT more money than Villa). Bottom line is if we were to sackMON it couldput us back years. Lookat the examples of stability - Man U, Everton, Arsenal, Liverpool where they've had a long term vision in place and the results are there to see. Have a bit of patience and realism. |
r0bb0
said:
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... Tonebone, Nick can speak for himself, but one of the points he seemed to make very well to me was that it's easy to jump to premature conclusions about how good a signing is or isn't. Petrov is of course the perfect example. I'd love to be able to go back and see if you made any comments about Petrov when he was going through his bad time with us. My guess is that you would not have been offering your support to help him come good, given time and encouragement from fans and manager. Nick also says that Shorey is 'starting' to look like a great full back. He had a good game again yesterday in great contrast to his earlier performances for us. Surely part of what a 'supporter' does is 'support' their players and manager until it is absolutely clear that they no longer deserve it. In no way are we anywhere near that point right now. |
Chris Algie
said:
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... Get rid of MON just like Spurs and Geordies would? FFS! It's about the long term. We are 11 places better off than when MON took over, at this stage Fergie had taken ManU 7 places down the league. Vogra, if we won the league would you complain we didn't have a better goal difference? You clown |
Altan Kargaci
said:
 |
... I wreckon Randy might be having second thoughts about Mon , he had the chance to bring in numbers in January and look at us now. He all but pulled us out of the uefa cup to guarantee champions league football , look at us now . Our home form is similar to that of a relagation strugler. It's not just the results though it's more to do with his tactical desicions . I'm no manager but sometimes I really cant understand what the hell he's doing . Im starting to think he's all about motivation with no reel tactical knowledge. Randy has spent a lot of money and is not stupid. I'm all for giving managers a chance but come on guys you have to say some of his decisions are laughable . |
r0bb0
said:
|
... Bluey....I think few fans would disagree with the suggestion that some of MON's good signings are: John Carew, Ashley Young, Luke Young, James Milner, Stilyian Petrov(I would personally add a number of others and also point out that he retained Gareth Barry this season). Who are the 25 bad ones that you had in mind? |
Michael
said:
 |
... since the stoke game i have avoided match of the day, the only bit of villa action i have seen is watching the everton game last week and watching 10 minutes on a dodgy link of yesterdays game, im not planning on watching it again til we win a game as it frustrates me, i also havnt bought the news of the world since the last time we won a game. im not angry and disapointed in the team, just frustrated. |
r0bb0
said:
|
... Altan, do you have any evidence at all that Randy Lerner is having second thoughts about MON? I'd be totally astonished if he had become such a successful businessman by being so shortsighted. Who should we have brought in in January that was available and wanted to come to us? For goodness sake, it's fair enough to have opinions on here...it's everyone's right to be negative, but let's try and be just a bit balanced and objective at the same time. |
peter power
said:
|
... shorey,davies, knight,cuellar,agathe,heskey,harewood,salifou,routledge ,maloney, sidwell, ect he cuould of signed l young for 2 mill a season earlier,he put davies in front of mellberg who had to play rb and no wonder he went,and also selling cahill |
r0bb0
said:
|
... Bluey...so you prove my point. When you said that 'for every 1 good signing MON makes 5 bad ones' you now accept that you were wrong or at least overstating your case? Even in your list of 'bad signings' it is far too soon to judge whether Shorey, Cuellar, Heskey and Sidwell fall into that category. Knight and Davies are at worst good squad players and I wouldn't even agree with you on that score, after all, Capello even picked Davies for his England squad. Please let's not work ourselves up into a state of unfounded negativity and exageration because we're disappointed that we're going through our bad patch right now. |
Chris Algie
said:
|
... I for one am happy with MON's signings but we've got to have patience. Brad Friedel: Great signing, in the top 5 Keepers in the league and will be a great mentor for Guzan Brad Guzan: Good prospect, yet to make a mistake. Nickey Shorey: Shaping up to be a good full back. Luke Young: Good signing who will only get better. Carlos Cuellar: Good quality centre-back only in his first season of Prem football (better than Petrovs 1st) Curtis Davies: Needs to work on positional play but will learn from Laursen. Zat Knight: Squad player doing a job. Steve Sidwell: Needs the games but England potential Stiliyan Petrov: Great Prem player, glad MON didn't listen to Vogra and Taglor Moustapha Salifou: Shows potential, but don't think he's good enough. Nigel Reo Coker: Good player, needs games in his fave position James Milner: Good player who will only get better Ashley Young: Great player, MON's best signing Wayne Routledge: Worth a punt, didn't pull off. Emile Heskey: England striker John Carew: 10 times the player Baros was. Marlon Harewood  one a job when he's came on and think we'll make a profit should he go Shaun Maloney: Made a profit and played well when here. . |
no10
said:
 |
... im not very happy with mon ,his team selection ,tactics,europe.they say he is a good motivator well if i was reo, shorey,sidwell.gardner,harewood,i would not be motivated ,i would be pissed off. give him one more season to see if things improve,i dont think they will. |
Damian
said:
|
... I think I am going mad .. my post mortem post has just taken a violent twist .. it will be published soon .. don't all shoot me at once |
notts Villan
said:
 |
... same old Villa. Unable to see games out or finish teams off. We are a mid table team punching above our weight and now we are at the business end of the season we've been found out. It seems like teams enjoy coming to VP now as they know they can get points off us. 5 wins at home all season..no wonder they are encouraging fans to get next seasons earlier than ever, im seriously in 2 minds about renewing mine while MON is in charge because what ive witnessed at home this season has been as bad as it was under DOL. 5 wins out of 18??? Utter rubbish and us fans deserve much better for our money. Blame the refs all you want MON, but results are your responsibility and you arent delivering them for this club. The home fans have shown up in numbers this season have been majorly let down.. Again. |
Adey Stuttard
said:
 |
... theprimeminister, Exactly, there isn't really a bad one in there, however you never mentioned Agbonlahor. He was slated in a previous post as not "moving on" this year, can't remember who the poster (joker) was, but lets look at the FACTS - 4th highest scorer this season, 2nd highest English scorer (behind Gerrard), in fornt of the likes of Torres, Berbatov, Rooney, Defoe et al, and and how much did we pay for him? Let's get behind the team for the last few games, the season has been a success, it's just unfortunate that some many players have had to play out of position for so long. We need Laursen back and quick, have a settled back four and the front guys (inc midfield) just need to work a bit more on clinical finishing! |
Matthew Clark
said:
 |
... Why does everyone use Petrov in an arguement to show that MON's transfer dealings aren't bad? Why do we have to wait 3 seasons for our signings to put in good performances? On that logic, surely it should be another 3 years on top of whatever plan MON has in mind. And also, when we do buy quality players in, sorry, if, we'll have to wait 3 seasons to show that quality? Come on. MON's transfers are largely crap. |
Michael
said:
|
... i agree with the PM about his signings, although would call friedel great, but has done well. the only transfers that have really anoyed me are firstly buying zat knight for £3.5million and then in the next transfer window selling gary cahill for £5million - cahill is a much better defender and is 5 years younger. the next one was paying £4million for harewood (over the odds) and then also paying £3.5million for heskey when we could have got him for free 6 months later, and if we missed out on him in the summer it wouldnt have been the worst thing that could happen. |
r0bb0
said:
|
... Matthew Clark, I don't think people are saying we have to wait 3 seasons for new signings to put in a good performance, just that we shouldn't write them all off straightaway as they may take time to settle in. Carew didn't take 3 seasons, neither did Ashley or Luke Young or Friedel or Milner. If we insist on immediate success from every new signing we'll dramatically reduce the number of players we can use. Some of MON's signings haven't made it, but to say that his signings are largely crap is really overstating things. |
Aero-For-Villa
said:
|
... To all the people questioning Randy Lerner, and questioning if he will spend this summer: - Didnt the General say a while back that Lerner would give MON 30 million to spend on one player.... yes he did! never doubt the General, even if your going to doubt Lerner! |
Aero-For-Villa
said:
|
... Mickey86, i 100% agree with you about the Zat Knight - Gary Cahill thing! Cahill is a brilliant defender and will only get better with experience. UTV! He will most likely be in the England squad soon and i believe he will be a permanent part of their defense in the long term! It was a terrible decision to sell him! |
Michael
said:
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... aero-for-villa the cahill/knight situation is like man u selling ronaldo and buying wayne routledge. lol |
Damian
said:
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... Aero-For-Villa No offence intended here but General Krulak is here for PR purposes. What do you expect him to say? And that specific comment you are referring to; does it remind you of anyone? |
rockyvilla
said:
 |
... I think MON has done a good job - so far. We are stronger and positionally in the league better off. Some of his signings have come off already others may take more time. I`m not ready to right him off just yet. I still believe its a 5 year plan and we are on course. We need to consolidate 5th place, attract the players in the summer who can see how near we are to top 4 and with whose help and forsight can get us there. Mon and the players have made mistakes but have improved our standing this season. We know we lack depth and quality but we can only buy people who WANT to come here, that is why MON went all out for CL.He knew this year was our best chance and squad not good enough for that and UEFA CUP run.The team is struggling with results but now is the time to stand up and support our team and manager and not knock them to the detriment of their confidence. We HAVE a part to play in where we finish so stop bickering and get behind them. UTV |
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