PMP: Over confident players are to blame according to Martin O'Neill
Monday, 02 March 09, 10:16 AM · Comments (28)
Who do you blame for this? Martin O'Neill is blaming the players, saying they were over confident but ultimately he is responsible for the players. He said "At 2-0 we should see it through. I think top four sides would see it through. I hope it's been a lesson."
Today though, I am going to look for some positives and the most obvious one to me is that as of today, we're closer to second place in the league than we were on Friday and Arsenal are still six points away.
I will say this; Gabby needs to be dropped. Call it rested if you want, but he needs to be taken out of the starting eleven as he's cost us games recently. I know the manager likes to stick with his players and that Gabby can score, but had he taken the 'on a plate' opportunities recently he'd be the leading scorer in the country.
Maybe someone else should see if they can put those opportunities away and give Gabby a kick up the arse because he's playing at the moment as if he knows he's not going to be dropped.
The Papers
Janine Self, The Sun: "The fans are getting the huff after seeing Aston Villa run out of puff. And not even an invitation to a slap-up dinner will work this time. Boss Martin O’Neill looked on in disbelief yesterday as his team made a meal out of what should have been a routine victory over struggling Stoke."
Sandy Macaskill, The Telegraph: "O'Neill had been hoping for justification that his decision to tank the Uefa Cup last week was the right one. His attempts to appease disgruntled fans who spent thousands on the trip by offering them a free supper at the end of the season has done some good, but he knew that no amount of free nosh would make up for this defeat. This was not quite the vindication he will have wanted, but least Arsenal are still six points adrift."
Stuart James, The Guardian: "It will take more than a few hundred free dinners to placate Aston Villa supporters after this chastening result. Having decided to leave eight first-team players at home for the Uefa Cup tie in Moscow with the aim of reducing the risk of fatigue, Martin O'Neill will not have appreciated the irony that Stoke City should strike twice in the closing minutes, when his team ought to have been feeling the benefit of that extended rest, to rescue an improbable draw."
All the papers are saying the same things today so I'm not going to do them all, it is hard to swallow and well, as expected we shouldn't have let in two soft goals.
Player Ratings
In what is becoming a regular thing, this week andy_villa gets his team ratings posted, because I'm too laze and fed up of getting the flack. Abuse Andy, not me, is my slogan for the day.
The Brad: 6 - Had little to do apart from pick the ball out from the net
Luke Young: 6 - Usual solid performance
Zat Knight: 5 - Too indecisive. Didn't dominate enough
Curtis Davies: 6 - Slightly better, bullied by Fuller too easily in the 2nd half
Carlos Cuellar: 5 - Okay defensively, very poor distribution, which is what you get for playing a centre half at right back.
Ashley Young: 6 - Few moments of promise, little else
Stiliyan Petrov: 8 - Man of the Match - started and finished a great goal, comfortable on the ball, looked most likely to make something happen
Gareth Barry: 7 - Worked hard to win the ball back in the 1st half, faded a little in the 2nd
Jimmy Milner: 7 - Worked tirelessly again, got into good positions but tried too do too much on a couple of occasions
Emile Heskey: 5 - Came deep too often to receive the ball, could have been in the box more to get on the end of crosses
Gabby Agbonlahor: 4 - Poor performance all-round. Poor first touch often gave away possession
Difficult to disagree with any of those but I have to agree with the man of the match pick from Andy and seeing as nobody really posted anything funny, Andy wins the t-shirt from yesterday. So Andy - email damian at avfcblog.com with your size, the t-shirt you want from SoccerPrint and your address, and we'll get it ordered today for you.
Final Analysis
It was a kick in the teeth but Martin O'Neill summed it up best when he said a top four side wouldn't let that happen. Well, that's not exactly true, because we are in the top four at the moment and Arsenal and Liverpool would let that happen, but you know what he's getting at.
We need three points against Manchester City on Wednesday and I know some would say it was vital but it isn't really. We could lose and Arsenal could win and we'd still be fourth, but if we don't win on Wednesday some will be predicting the end as in, not finishing in the top four and on recent form they may be right, but Wednesday is two days away, we're better away from home this season and Manchester City are an awful team.
But, drop or rest Gabby, play five in the middle (we won more games playing this way) and pick up three points against Manchester City and I think most will be happy with four points from a possible six. Lose to Manchester City and I'm not coming here for a few days as it will be horrible.
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28 Comments · Add yours
What really stood out to me was the lack of a leader on the field in the 2nd half. We came out and instead of keeping up the the same intensity of the first half just didn't look bothered. This is when a leader should step up and drive the team on but Barry didn't do this. petrov tried but he seemed the only one. This is when the manager then needs to get a point accross to the players by making SUBSITUTIONS.
Gabby should have been taken off 10mins into the second half(by the way how many times has he actually ben taken off in MON reign becuse i ca't remember one single time?). The last 15mins the midfield died. All MON had to do was bring on NRC for Barry or Gabby just to see out the game. And as for our 2 centre backs talk about average players. It really annoys me to see a small CM get a free header in againest 2 tall Centre backs. But i put the blame firmly on MON's reluctance to make subsitutions.
Agree with your comments on Gabby, he did cost us the game and ultimately this could end us up in 5th. Ever confident and with a few tweaks, we can still finish strongly but we do need to change our mentality the team and the fans). We keep saying 4th and CL qualification, but 2nd is well within our reach, let's aim for that and then be disappointed when we end up 4th!!
I was screaming for The Fona to come on for the last 15 yesterday, give Gabby a break and a bit more experience for Nathan when the game was safe. I would also like to see Cuellar partnering Davies at the back and put Young to RB and Shorey a go at LB. With the likes of Gardner and NRC on the bench we can easily swap around if the game dictates. I am confused with MoN's substitution tactics, this season we have 7 on the bench but he still hardly ever uses them - ok, we don;t have the strongest of benches but yesterdays was good, and Sidwell was missing from it.
Chin up guys, all is not lost, that fat lady ain't singing just yet....
The Fonz, not The Fona (whoever he is! oops)
Blame MON all you like for the UEFA Cup exit. But you certainly can't blame him for our loss to Stoke. If we can't hold on to a 2 goal lead with 5 minutes to go we don't deserve to be where we are now. We need Laursen back in a hurry. Also, Gabby should have been dropped several games ago, he has been lazy for weeks now. And I beleive he may well be out of his class now. I really would like to see Heskey and Carew start. Still, we are definitely Top 4 now, and I for one am as happy as the proverbial...
Here's the 'I told you so' email.
All those 'we yes we can' punters logging onto the site of late seem to have dissapeared so it's time for a reality check. Whilst we may have drawn with a dodgy Stoke side yesterday we ourselves have scored alot of flukey last minute goals and we've won alot of games 1-0. So we've picked up alot of 3 pointers that we probably didn't deserve and it's put us in the top 4 when in reality we all know that we don't really deserve to be there! We've got a small squad, we didn't buy in January - You get what you deserve
...and I did tell you so.
Nice goal from Carew though eh!!
Pricey
I'm not blaming anyone - I'm just saying that the buck stops with O'Neill.
I woke this morning in a strange positive attitude despite what happened in the last 3 minutes yesterday.
We are in 4th place, only 3 points behind 2nd and 6 points ahead of Arsenal. If we had been offered that in August we would have taken it without thinking. We have a good team here and with Bouma and Laursen to return, hopefully sooner rather than later, the defence will be better.
Gabby was poor and so was Heskey. We lack a goal threat without Carew and I would play him as a loan striker against Man City in Damian's favoured 4-5-1 formation. I would point out that Gabby hasn't scored when playing alongside Heskey!
Champions League is there for the taking, Chelsea were fortunate to beat Wigan and Liverpoo are in a messs, Torres out and Gerrard being rushed back because they are so desperate. Arsenal 4th consecutive league game without scoring.
The future is bright - the future is claret and blue.
Martin can lay the blame wherever he likes, but this started going pear shaped when he failed to strenghten properly in the last window.
It is afterall the reason we surrendered our hard earned UEAFA spot, and the reason why players like Gabby are looking burnt out.
Thing is...he has the money, so unlike other occasions at the club, we cant blame anyone else but him.
And when we do fail to acheieve our goal, do you think we will be able to keep players like Barry and possibly Petrov, Ashley Young...cos we know by past expereinces, we wont be able too pay the inflated prices to replace them, there will be more compitiom, and quality players that we need wont come, cos we dont have CL Football!!
As major fuck-ups go, January could yet prove to be a massive ten!
Im sure Randy is very happy
Reply to AVFCBlog:
Then I must be reading the wrong blog!
You say "ultimately he is responsible for the players" that, to me, says you blame him.
Also, don't say you are not blaming anyone - "Gabby...needs to be taken out of the starting eleven as he's cost us games recently".
That to me says you blame him as well!
Now, I don't really care who you blame for our "loss" to Stoke (I am surprised you haven't called for Milner's head for some no-good reason.)
Damien, mine was a general comment to everyone regarding the recent persecution of MON regarding the UEFA Cup, I wasn't directing it at you.
You must have a guilty conscience.
Hey, at least we see eye to eye on Gabby...
Gabby is so lazy, he does only the absolute minimum....which is the odd sprint. Yes he is fast, yes he's the top English Premier league goalscorer but he needs to dropped NOW!
yEsWeCaN
next 5 fixtures will probably dictate where we finish. Man City away, spuds home, liverpool away, manure away and everton home. Not exactly easy.
I sat there yesterday thinking that I'd sooner we'd signed Fuller or Beattie rather than Heskey, I cannot see the point of a centre forward who spends 99% of his time outside the oppostion box no matter how neat his touches are, no wonder he never scores more than 3 a season.
As for Gabby, yeah he does need a rest but he is a good player and will come good again, I don't think its the Micheal Ricketts scenario (England to oblivion in half a season)
Definitely got be Big John up front on his own Wednesday, and Gardner in for a 5 man midfield.
Oh yeah, Cutiss was bloody awfull all game yesterday, Zat was much the better centre half.
A defence repeatedly incapable of keeping a clean sheet, against this level of opposition, is worrying, in light of games we have on the horizon, and the class of strikeforce they'll have to put up with then.
Could not agree more that Gabby needs to be dropped the amount of chances he has wasted lately(since his England call up) has been a real concern. it may well be that teams are starting to get wise to him.
also could not understand why changes were not made to kill the game especially when they got the goal back.
Reo coming on would have broken up the play, other teams make late substitutions to time waste, but Martin seems to have very little idea of how to use substitutes.
MoN has got to replace Cuellar at RB, absolutely abysmal yesterday, Shoray has to be given a further chance to prove himself. We need runs down the line and an out of position CB isn't ever going to contribute.
Personally i thought Knight was our best CB yesterday, but seems to be getting blamed for every goal we concede (it was Luke Young beaten for the 1st header), and though he turned his back for the winner it made not a jot of difference it would've gone in regardless of the way he faces he was still trying to block it. Davies for me is looking really shaky.
MON cant be to blame. We were 2-0 up with 5 mins left, Stoke never threatened until the end and our boys switched off. Ive calmed down a bit from yesterday now. Had a good laugh at all the gooners coming out of the woodwork to give us stick but were still 6 points ahead of them! This result could be the motivation we need. We only have the league to worry about now and the last gasp heartbreak could be used to remind the boys not to throw it away. Every Villa fan would have took this position at the start of the season I dont care what anybody says. We are in dream land. Its up to the lads to see out what they have worked so hard for all season. We are in the driving seat and 4th is ours for the taking. A lot of Villans are fickle bastards with short memorys. We need to get behind the MON and the lads for the rest of the season. This season has been a massive success so far and even if we cant take 4th im so proud to be a Villa fan and the team can hold there heads up high. UTV
Interesting artice from Lee Dixon
LINK
Reply to Paul_Villa82:
Paul, I agree with your comments but wouldn't say Villa fans were fickle. Some fans seem to get very excited after a good result and then very down after a bad one. Its more a case of them getting a bit carried away by our fantastic season and believing we will win the league. When reality slaps you in the face it is hard to take.
i agree damian, gabby needs to be dropped, freshen up his mind and work on his finishing
martin laursen has been a huge loss and his absence has coincided with villa's loss of form and is severely threatening villa's season
zat knight is the weakenst link, he is dreadful, he needs to exponentially improve his attitude, concentration and reading of the game. there is great potential there but at the moment he's nowhere near to fulfilling it.
is there anyone who can play left back so that young can go back to right back and cuellar can go in the middle? when is bouma back? (god i never thought i'd be asking myself this question)
I have to say well done for your positivity the last two days damian, was expecting you to be really negative and laying into MON. lately this blog was becoming a bit depressing to read.
Reply to Chris J:
But the point about Knight and Davies for that cross is that neither took the responsibility to come and head that ball. They are both tall men and that ball hung in the air for enough time for one of them to go and attack it. Do you think Vidic would have left a little CM come and win an easy header like that in the Utd box? Not a chance. For such a huge man knight odes not attack high balls agressively enough in either box.
Reply to croni:
how the hell can you say zat is dreadful, he has stood up the best he could once we lost ML yes he's not 100% all the time but come on who would class zat knight as world class? no one but he has been playing great.
Gabbi needs dropped start Hesk/Carew firs thalf then Carew and Del if we need a goal or Carew/CG 451 if we are comfatable.
We can still do this guysss come on.!!
YES WE CAN! ,
Reply to Mlockey89:
Here's hopinh this is the lineup for Man City.
Shorey, Cuellar, Davies, L. Young
A. Young, Petrov, Barry, Gardner, Milner
Carew
And with the injuries Man City have it will be 8 consecutive away wins and Villa will be back on track for second or third.
I mean hoping*
Reply to George_Templeton:
I would agree with that team except for Carew. As much as i want Gabby to be dropped i don't think we could opperate without his pace if we are playing 4-5-1.
Is it me or why does there seem to be an apparent loss of form when players return from England duty?
Reply to George_Templeton:
I'd put someone in Goal too! LOL