PMP: Aston Villa about to bottle it at the business end of the season?
Thursday, 05 March 09, 01:34 AM · Comments (128)
I don't think there is much more I can say that I didn't say after the match or actually during it yesterday, so I'll keep this brief today and concentrate on new things.
Luke has pointed out that it's our first defeat on the road since November and it is excellent that we've had such a good run but what happens in November, December and January doesn't help us now, in March when we need to be winning. It's about current form and on current form, things are not looking great.
The Papers
Neil Custis, The Sun: "But what of Villa? They are running out of steam and boss Martin O’Neill knows it. In the past fortnight they have lost at home to Chelsea, gone out of the UEFA Cup and conceded two late goals to draw at home with Stoke. Defeat last night means they have earned just five points from the last 18."
Jeremy Cross, The Independent: "Martin O'Neill is never one to panic, but his internal emotions must be in complete turmoil at the moment following another desperate disappointment for Aston Villa at Eastlands last night. Goals in each half from Elano and Shaun Wright-Phillips were more than enough to secure Manchester City's fifth straight home Premier League victory and leave O'Neill fighting his increasing frustrations."
James Ducker, The Times: "Take nothing away from Manchester City, who, inspired by the imperious Shaun Wright-Phillips and Stephen Ireland, thoroughly deserved this victory, their fifth in succession at home in the Barclays Premier League, but Villa bore all the hallmarks of a team buckling under pressure, as one win in five league games reflects."
Time Rich, The Guardian: "This was the sixth successive match Aston Villa have failed to win and, if Martin O'Neill imagined that exits from the FA and Uefa Cups might concentrate his players' minds on the greater prize of the Champions League, he is disillusioned."
Player Ratings
I honestly can't name a man of the match but if I was forced I'd say Brad Friedel. He made a fantastic save in the second half that at the time, kept us in the game, but that's just me, now I'm going to pop on over to the post from after the match and get some player ratings.
This, time the player ratings come from Benny_HolteEnd.
The Brad: 7 - kept us in it before their second
Luke Young: 6
Curtis Davies: 5 - doesn't seem fit and a total lack of confidence
Zat Knight: 5.5
Carlos Cuellar: 6
James Milner: 6
Gareth Barry: 6.5
Stilyan Petrov: 7 - my Man of the match again - more effort than so many others
Ashley Young: 6
Gabby Agbonlahor: 5
Emile Heskey: 5
Benny scored Carew a 6.5 for the record but we don't list subs but I'm putting that in to demonstrate how those numbers above are about right, but I'm going to get to that in a minute.
Final Analysis
The first half last night was quite possibly the worst half of football from this club since Martin O'Neill took over, most definitely this season and I don't think you can blame the players, it was how they were sent out to play that cost us.
Basically they had five in midfield and we had four, so despite going out and trying to pass the ball around, we couldn't as they always had an extra man and we failed to get on top and when Manchester City did, that was it in the first half as Martin O'Neill failed to do anything about it.
The second half was different, because we went out and played three up front, with Carew coming on for Davies and Milner slotting in to right back. Basically we created the space and when we got on top we pretty much stayed there, it was just unfortunately too little, too late.
Manchester City had two shots on target last night and they both went in. They had eight that were off target and two of those should have gone in and we were unlucky not to be three down at half time.
Our next four games are against Spurs, Liverpool, Manchester United and Everton. Apart from maybe Liverpool, although they actually are, all of those teams are on form at the minute - we're not and we won't be if we go out trying to play 4-4-2 I'm afraid - we're just not up to that.
We did so well playing 4-5-1 with Milner and Young I don't know why we changed it. Martin O'Neill won't change his players on the actual pitch that often, why change a formation that worked?
I'm probably putting too much emphasis on it and we'll see us score five against Spurs because it did take time for it to start happening with 4-5-1, maybe the game last night was the game that it took for them to get used to playing 4-4-2 again, maybe.
But there is a big break coming up now and everyone is going to Dubai and well, they really can't afford to make any more mistakes unless Arsenal do so, here goes; we'd all have taken this at the start of the season and we are three points clear of Arsenal. Sorry.
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128 Comments · Add yours
gutted about last night,but it ent over till the fat lady sings,and i dont think the arse will win every game from now until the end of the season
I dunno about the taking what we have right now at the start of the season. 3 points clear of arsenal and in no cups. can easily end up a nothing season. I would much have preferred 5th and still to be in the european cup.
Also, everyone goes on about us getting a better quality of player once we get in the champions league, but I for one don't see that really happening. I dont think its mon's style to go out and by 'superstars', I think we'll just get more of the same :/
Ashley Young had one touch in City's half during the first 30 minutes. We have to get Young on the ball and involved. Most of that is down to not ever having possession, and we rarely had possession in that first half. When we had, we were forced to pass it around our own box. I would love us to go back to 4-5-1 but I dont think it is going to happen anytime soon. We know MON is stubborn in his player selections, and because of that I cant see him dropping a striker right now.
I would love to see Carew get a start, but again not holding my breath.
Still 3 points ahead of arsenal. Like we did earlier in the year after the middlesbrough and newcastle losses, I expect this team to bounce back. Spurs will be a tough game, but needless to say it's very winnable if we show up. utv
Arsenal have to go away to Man Utd and Liverpool the same as we do and they have to play Chelsea at home.
if we can muster 15 points we can still finish 4th. it will be tight either way. if we keep playing like this we'll be lucky to finish 5th.
i agree with playing 5 in midfield, it's what set us on this run in the first place, the sooner MON gets it into his head the better.
Let's not get Chiken Lickin'# about all of this and say that the sky's falling in. The next 4 games are vital but Spurs and Everton in good form? OK Everton have done well but let's see how they get on without Arteta after a couple of games, and as for Spurs... one swallow does not a summer make. Beating Boro 4-0 is a good result but they recently lost 3-2 to Bolton, 1-0 to Wigan. For them last night was crucial because a loss would draw have drawn them back to the relegation zone.
Villa now have a week off to recharge the batteries and take on the SPuds.
We need to get out of this mentality that that just because Arsenal have clawed back some of our advantage that it is inevitable that we will drop back. On the way home last night I was listening to a phone in show and a Villa 'fan' said that we wouldn't qualify for Europe, let alone the Champion's League. Ridiculous.
For those of you who would dismiss my optimism as that of a even-toed ungulate, well perhaps I am. However, you would not catch me booing my own team at half time, when to be fair we had played poorly but were only 1-0 behind. It was noticeable that at the end, when MON came over to give us his paternal wave and thanks, loads of people left, I would suspect not one of the people who booed were still there at the end of the game. Poor show.
To be honest, I think you are right Damian. The reason for our loss of form is the change in formation. MON has tried to fix what was not broken by changing the way we play to fit Heskey into the side.
It reminds me of the time Newcastle where going for the title and changed their style of play to fit Asprillia and we know what happened there.
Since we've signed Heskey, we have only won two games and one of them was lucky (Portsmouth). Also since we've signed Heskey, Ashley Young has been shocking. The reason for this is the change of formation. In a 4-5-1(4-3-3) Young could push forward and only worry about setting up and scoring goals, in a 4-4-2 he can't.
Also in 4-4-2, Petrov and Barry are getting over-run everytime. 4-5-1 allows Barry the time to do what he does best.
I'm not blaming Heskey for this, I thought (and still do) that he's a good signing, however he's not worth upsetting the apple cart for. MON should not have changed the formation and he should not be stubborn enough to realise he is wrong, however we all know he has one mighty stubborn streak.
Overall, bitterly disappointed by last nights performance, however we are still 3 points clear. However if we don;t go back to doing what we do best then we are going to struggle to finish 5th never mind 4th, I don't see us picking up any points from the next 4 games if we continue to play 4-4-2.
I don't want to be negative, but the way the team is at the moment I can't help it.
Out of the the recent disappointment, the one thing that has got to me the most is us not playing 4-5-1. It has been so frustrating to witness us not winning the midfield. Before the Chelsea game I was hoping that we'd be playing this system, and have been ever since. It's called playing to your strengths, not accommodating players! I agree with others that Carew should start up front and maybe bring Gabby on if needed. Please, please, please MON play the tried and tested way and change it if it's not working.
Reply to KG2008:
Well said mate. I agree 100%.
Let's not ignore the blindingly obvious. Let's take our medicine and get behind the team. Now is the test of AVFC not when we are winning everything. It's fair enough to dream but you have to live in the here and now. Here and now we are not good enough.
I agree with the 5 man midfield comment Damien but does this not say to you that Barry is not really a good centre midfielder? Im sick of harping on about this but this so called top English international midfielder of ours is continuously overrun and beaten in the centre. Petrov is playing well so it must be down to Barry. Now Palacious was avaialable and MON mad no attempt to get him and i honestly believe that will cost us 4th this season. We are simply just not good enough and next season if Barry is still at the club MON should start putting him back into his true position on the left wing where he is far more influential. By the way we should be happy that Robhino and Bellamy were missing last night or we could have been really embarressed. The huge luck we were getting early on in the season has now stopped and i believe we are being found out for what we really are just a top 7 team.
Went last night and was not impressed, the reason we were outplayed in the first half was because we come out at 75% as opposed to City being at 100%, in other words we couldn't be fucking arsed ! An obvious rocket at half time and at least we made some effort in the 2nd half, we huffed and puffed as we do but came up against City's 2 extra defenders (Heskey and Gabby), and that was it.
O'Neill really is deluded if he thinks Heskey & Gabby are a decent strike force, we now have the deepest lying centre forward in history who is starting to get in the way of our 2 centrebacks ! Gabby is obviously completely out of form and needs to be rested, Cuellar is a clueless fullback, not really his fault as he's a centre half, and the wheels are coming off.
Get yer finger out Martin, everyone knows we should have played Big John on his own up front last night with Gardner drafted into central midfield, instead we lost to a mid table team without its 2 strikers, doesn't bode well does it ?
The system was changed to accommodate Heskey, now instead of relying on Ash and james, (which was better). We are tending to just lump it forward only to find it coming back. This was why Crouch didn't work, everything was thrown to him.
I am no lover of Heskey, iv'e made that clear before, this is exactly the reason why. Whilst on paper Heskey may be a good provider, Gabby is having to alter his style of play, He is much better in a free roam role.
If i had all the answers i would be manager, but some things are obvious and using Heskey isn't working.
Also even still injured Bouma and Laursen can still perform better than what we have at the moment.
But....we are still in the driving seat and i have my ticket for the Spurs game, so I'll be there giving my all to push on the team i love.
COYL
simple fact that should please MOn and Damo.
Play 451 start with hesk/carew up front thenat halftime or 70min get gabbi on.
Thats a winning role. On football manager (not perfect) but i sat for ages updating stats and making them all updated for all teams we have to play and we only lost a few. i could do the full league would have took days so i couldnt see where we finished but we did lose to liverp and man u.
But 4-5-1 is defo the way to go. not a goal scoring formation but its a strong and winning form. 451 we get sneaky 1-0 wins and things or 442 and lose 2-0 and draw 2-2 i no what i want.
UTV. Hope this doesnt back fire on MON. and we dont do a chelsea!
I agree with the fact that we should look at playing 5 in midfield, however I also think this is not the only issue. Defensivley are all over the place. Too many defenders out of position!
We are missing Laursen, and I also think we are missing the work ethics of Reo Coker.
How Zat Knight gets in the team is beyond me aswell.
Well i couldnt be fucked writing anything last night because a. there is nothing good to say about the last month for Villa and b. there was so many ridiculous arseholes on here last night.
The facts -
For the last two seasons we have been sitting in a decent position on the table heading in to the January transfer window and both times have failed to deliver any significant additions that would help fortify our position.
We have given up on the eufa cup to concentrate on the league. It isnt working.
Arsenal will fall. If not this season then next. They will become the new West Ham when Wenger leaves.
Our squad is not good enough period. We have good players who try hard, but the quality is missing. 4-5-1 or 4-4-2 doesnt mean shit when you dont have the talent.
We will make the Top 4 within three seasons.
Thats all we need to remember
The thing people on here are just over looking regarding a lot of the games we won playing 4-5-1 was the huge amount of luck we got in many games to give us 3 points when in fact we would have counted ourselves lucky to be getting a draw. Everton away with 5 man midfield we were played off the park but managed to 3pts. Same at West Ham, Sunderland, Hull City away and even Pompy away we were lucky to get a win. Like AVMark said above we are not good enough. MON needs to take a good long look this summer at his whole transfer policy and stop this buying English first crap.
Lockey.....You can't do a 4-5-1 with Carew or Heskey...We will still be hoofing it..! It has to be the Fonz at the moment up front with Ash, Barry, Petrov, (Gardner/Sidwell/Bannan or NRC), Milner in teh middle. .. Defence Shorey, Davies, Cuellar and L Young back four. If MON want to let me have a go I'll gladly do it for free...
And I would have brought Beattie in on a two year contract in January, (as I said back in January, I'm not just saying it now)...Anyone got a problem with that signing..?!
This manager lark is easy....
ok the last month hasn't been good but if anyone would have offered you 3 points in front of Arsenal with 10 games to go we would have all taken it.
there are issues to solve but if get a bit of form back will can still improve on last years 6th place.
things aren't all that bad. over all the team, squad and club are moving forward.
lets not forget the O'Leary years or the last few years of Doug's rein
Heres my prediction for remaining villa and arsnal fixtures
villa to play arsenal to play
spurs-win blackurn-win
liverpool-lose newcastle-win
man utd-lose man city-win
everton-draw wigan-draw
west ham-win liverpool-lose
bolton-draw boro-win
hull-win pompey-win
fulham-draw chelsea-draw
boro-draw man utd-lose
newcastle-win stoke-win
total points-13 total-points-19
overall points-65 overall points-68
Dissapointing results in the last month,
However we can still bounce back, Arsenal still can't
score tol save themselves
PLEASE tell me how gabriel agbonlahor deserves a 5 and knight a 5.5. I just dont understand it one pass could cut our defence open last night it was shamefull, disgusting. As for gabby iv never seen any one give the ball away so much and when on the ball look so scared and no idea what to do, he doesnt have a footballing brain, add to this his arrogance and lazy mannor it angers me that hes an automatic start each week. He can get goals im not denying but it reminds me of vassel, hes starting for england and is automatic 4 villa so knows he doesnt have 2 do much unless its a big game- united away etc. We shouldnt throw away our hard work we are still 3 ahead of arsenal and should look upon the league table positivly and ignore what all the knob ed players and fans are saying from the north london club. wed of taken this scenario at the start of the season and we can do this we just need some belief and passion to get out of this situatation- plus martin laursen back would be a great help.
Reply to Sheldon5:
I said to some people last night I can't wait for people to come on today and mention the DOL years, how we will have improved on 6th, we would have taken this position at the start of the season, but you missed how we gone from 16th to was it 9th then 6th etc etc...
Anyone else getting really annoyed with MON and playing players who are out of position or under performing? How come every Villa fan can see it but him?
L Young - has to keep cutting onto his right foot - can't cross with his left and is struggling to support Ashley.
Cuellar - IS NOT A RIGHT BACK! - needs to partner Zat at the back.
Davies - This guy is clearly injured but doesn't want to lose his place in the team - clearly playing through the pain and its having an effect on his performance.
Heskey - Have you seen him run? he hobbles as he runs!
Gabby - His recent goal record is poor - but he is Oneill first name on the sheet.
Carew - Everyone knows hes our biggest goal threat - needs to start!
this really is disheartening but its ceratinly not over
there is no excuse for a first half performance like that
these first half performances are becoming a real trend, absoultely abject
after our recent form you would think they would have started with all guns blazing, putting every city player under pressure,
but now i'm starting to think this 4 in midfield is not the solution.
reverting to 5 in midfield with carew as lone striker might improve things
hopefully this break will give them the opportunity for recuperation and work on systems
laursen hurry up, we need your norse spirit!
I am not going to get to down yet, but can not understand why we dont sure up the defense by moving Cueller into the centre (that is his more comfortable position after all) Young at right back and Nicky shorey at left back - I think Shorey has been unlucky, and cant get my head round why we are playing 2 players out of position to avoid starting Shorey.....is he really that bad????
Reply to Sheldon5:
We haven't lost our form we have lost our huge luck we were getting up to now.
Villa are now buggered. Cant believe MON did bot buy a striker in the transfer window, gabby cant score, not can heskey, you need a player that can pu the ball in the net at least 20 times this season.
So p*ssed off with how sh*t villa are playing, cant believe we are and chancing are luck for 4th place, how stupid do we look resting our team and then not delivering. Shocking errors costing us 4th place. Not going to attract any decent player next season, same stuff again next season. This is just crazy management MON sort yourself out and most of all your team, get some strikers in on loan before you end up 6th in the league, kiss that 4th spot good bye and your bonus !!!
There is no such thing as luck. You make your own 'luck' by putting the ball in good positions and pressuring the opponent. We played better with a 4-5-1. Dont buy into the "villa are the luckiest team in the world" idea, because it is nonsense. We are 4th on merit, this is the same team that the media was touting for the title at a point in the season.
We have proven that we are good enough to mix in with the top 4 over 28 games in the PL. We will find out if we're good enough over a full 38 game season at the end of it.
zat knight has to be dropped
cuellar in the middle
and shorey should get his place back
Reply to ak_27:
either way we are getting ppor results based on our performances of late. i agree we were lucky and that had to run out sometime, but maybe we made the odd slice of luck by playing better than we are now.
Reply to rolgat_:
I couldn't disagree with you more. If we had been dominating these games and then got a bit of luck in front of goal then yes id agree with you but the fact is that in many of our games this year we were being outplayed and we got lucky breaks by scoring deflected goals and own goals. How many games can you honestly say that afterwards you could say that was a really good performance by us today?
Reply to __AA__:
pleased to prove you right. i'm disappointed with recent results but please were all moaning when we're in 4th
pressure is getting to them.
4-5-1 might help but only with the right players
friedel
l.young cuellar davies shorey/bouma
gabby petrov barry a.young
milner
carew
this would be my eleven and formation for the spurs game.
Carew was apparently not fit enough to start last night - but Heskey was!!??
At least the break comes at the right time for the players to recharge. Hope they enjoy their jolly.
Reply to keefvilla:
Im sure Carew will enjoy his jolly anyway
I would drop Gabby because he needs to know that if you aint performing then you wont be automatic choice.
I would play 5 in the mid with milner and young on the flanks, then put reo coker in the middle as a defensive midfielder, petrov to spray the balls out to the wings and barry to keep the ship steady and play the simple ball. Then I would start Carew because he can get onto the balls that will constantly be coming in from milner and young.
If this didnt work, Gabby could come on late and use his pace, and sidwell could replace reo for more of an attacking midfield.
Defence needs people in position, simple! shorey cuella davies young
c'mon lads, lets all get behind the team. imagine what we'll be like when we start playing well again, a blip in our season was always going to happen, it happens to the best teams too. i for one will be singing my bloody heart out next sunday for the boys, lets get them back on track and beat them cockney wide boys and that dodgy bastard redknapp!! c'mon the villa!!!!
Reply to Greg:
Ha ha funnily enough, you've put L.Young LB and Shorey RB..... Defence needs people in position??
Only playin...
Reply to villa-chris:
I've been cloned!!
Reply to Villa_Chris:
Im new to this managing business, ha
Reply to Villa_Chris:
lol, sorry mate, i'll change my user name.
Disappointed to have lost last night, but it wasn't unexpected.
What worries me most is our home form. We obviously can't cope with teams coming for a point, and there are a few more due a visit. That requires playing with width and using attacking full backs. So a 5 man midfield with a ruthless spine (reo and or gardner in there) proper full backs, playing in position, (come on Freddy) and the best available CB's (it seems forever since Laursen was injured). That would mean starting with Carew, if fit, or Gabby/Heskey if not. But more importantly being flexible during the game and using the available subs.
Reply to villa-chris:
Not a problem mate
Hi all I don’t leave many posts on the web site but can we all please get of martins back this is one the best manager ‘s in the league, yes we are over performing but he is getting the best out of the team we have.
Defensively we are struggling but with the 2 best defenders out and one centre back looking like he’s carrying an injury.
If anyone said to me 3 years ago that we would be in the top 4 I wouldn’t have believed them, I know we have had some luck this season to be where we are but all teams have that throughout the season yes we have hit a bad patch as yet again all teams have that but don’t you all think it’s time to back the manager not ridicule him for every bad result.
So come on all villa fans lets do our bit and help spur the team on for the last 10 games of the season
No more this at the start the season we would have took this. YES i know but look how we have been playing. if we new we could play like we have we would demand 3/4 place.
Its the fact we have a lazy striker, a stirker that cant score, a stirker that cant but doesnt get his starts!
A RB at LB a DC at RB a team playing 442(to keep people happy) when they play better 451 and a manger that needs to rethink his 10game season!!
Hey i would never say a bad word towards MON because i think he is the best manager we could have at the mo.
But we need more players a consistant goal scorer. a better back line and im sorry to say a younger keeper (someone that stands out as a shot stopper)
Villa have had a great run up till now and even tho it looks at tho its up and the free fall might have set in,
Being a true Villa fan i still predict a win at spuds!
Lets hope this trip away to REST(again) Works.!
UTV (ihope)
Reply to johnthegaffer:
Yes we know hes the top manager, but this is the 2 weeks that could break the season.
if we had of won against city this blog would be different.
Two Chris'
No!!!!!!!
Curtis Davies was wearing a black arm band last night does anyone know why? Only player wearing one. Cant read yesterdays posts, too depressing.
We have been shipping goals. That's why we are unable to sneak the wins. Conceding two goals to Stoke was tragic but no worse than some of our defending earlier at the start of the season (when Laursen was playing coincidentally).
The defence is average but has been helped out by a five man midfield. We have swapped the current whipping boy Sidwell with Heskey (no doubt the new one shortly). I believe too many people watch Villa on the telly not live. Too many people ignore the work off the ball and concentrate on the eye catching tackles and passes. I would suggest that Sidwell is more mobile than either Petrov or Barry and has managed to get goal side more effectively when he has played.
MON has changed things and it hasn't worked. Fortunately we now have a break when everyone can regroup. If it wasn't for that I would be expecting us to lose the next three games.
Reply to keefvilla:
I think it was for the death of our top 4 dreams.
Reply to keefvilla:
I wouldn't bother reading yesterdays posts Keef, most of them make you embarrassed to be a Villa fan truth be known!
I was with my best mate (Arsenal fan) and he couldn't believe the things that were being said. A lot of people throw their toys out of the pram when we lose. They seem to think Villa have a right to be 4th. Its a game of football, the best team on the night generally deserve the win.
Reply to ak_27:
Ouch. That hurt!
Reply to keefvilla:
Just for you Keef.......
"They also had a greater physical and aerial threat up front, imposing striker John Carew coming on for injured centre-back Curtis Davies, who wore a black armband in memory of a relative"
Reading an article on Sky Sports by the Merse about the Blackburn-Everton game some Newcastle fan wrote in a comment...
Are Geordies really that stupid??!! No offence mlockey
"Joe Kinnear might wear his heart on his sleeve but surely the doctors advice would be not to stress himself all over again after the triple bypass operation. I say bring in David O' Leary or Steve Bruce in the summer. Here's hoping"
Made me feel so much better about being a Villa fan this morning reading that
Perspective!
Last night's game was always going to be tough regardless of recent run - Man City are good at home. We played poorly - after effect of the Stoke game, I'm guessing, especially with Arsenal playing before us.
Stoke result put is in this nervy position and we've now got a good break to get that out of our minds. Losing an away game isn't itself a problem, just the manner of the performance but we can lick our wounds and come out fighting against Spurs.
Yes, we could start the Spurs game in 5th place but it is equally conceivable that we go to Anfield looking for a win to draw level on points with them. Go back to the PMP post after Boro/Newcastle defeats and the tone is probably as it is now. These guys CAN get us going again because we've seen them do it. Sure, I'd like to see Shorey in the team now and get everyone back in their rightful slot but mostly we just need to put this run out of our mind.
My main concern is that Arsenal play before us for the next 4 matches - and they are each massive games for us. If pressure is telling still by then it will show. I was gutted with the team selection for Moscow but I am certain that the break now and the focus on the last 10 matches will benefit us.
Hands up all those who thinks MON is going to accept that Arsenal are now in control of race for 4th place? He now has some time to consign the Stoke result to history... the players must have had the same feeling of inevitability about the 4th place race when they scored as us - let's hope they get over that quicker than us fans!
Time fro people to be re-motivated! Enjoy!!
LINK
for*
Damian,
Just out of curiosity, when you write letters to O'Neill (I'm sure I recall you saying recently that you were going to send one to him), do you ever get replies or acknowledgements? I'd like to know if he ever reads these boards or similar fan forums. I know it was rumoured that Randy's left-hand man came on here quite a bit last year, but it'd be good to know if O'Neill actually takes time out to listen to what the fans are saying.
To my mind, there are five main problems with the current team: they are knackered, they play in an unsuitable formation, players are playing out of position, they are too reliant on the long ball up to Heskey or Carew, and, in the words of Lee Dixon, 'they have no plan 'B'. Surely if these problems are blatantly obvious to us O'Neill must be aware of them too. Is it that he is just too stubborn to change things? Or is he simply devoid of ideas? Taking the lads off to Dubai (literally burying your head in the sand?) is all well and good, and it may well allow the players to recharge their respective batteries. But all of the other problems will still be there when they get back.
I'm not sure how to end this post, and it feels like a bit of a damp squib. But my lunchbreak is over so I must away. Despite all I have just said...UTV!
Reply to Villavanilla:
Mlockey is too stupid to take offence at that
Thanks Chris
Utterly shocking. Even our dependable Luke Young made Wright-Phillips look like Maradona! We couldn't make a 5 yard pass all night. Very surprised to see Petrov given MOTM in the above ratings- reasonable second half, didn't touch the ball 1st half.
Emile Heskey simply hasn't worked out- we play quick, counterattacking football, he is a hold up man and the games just pass him by.
I never expected any other result- i predicted a 2-0 loss. We always forfeit at Man City.
But all is not lost, even with our horrendous fixtures coming up we'll still regain the lost ground when Arsenal go to Anfield, Old Trafford and host Chelsea.
A bad 2 weeks for Villa, particularly bad for MON following his unpopular decisions, but we've had our wobble now and we'll crack on.
Damian am I correct is saying that last night you said playing Carew, Heskey and Gabby was a mistake because we needed 4-5-1 not 4-3-3? I thought they were the same thing?
Sorry I just need some light relief.
not over yet , Arsenal have Drawn against Fulham and Sunderland , then get a win against WB and everyone thinks they're back on Track????
Reply to Villavanilla:
none taken
most are that stupid yes.
But atleast we can say our manager and chairmen arnt running the club into debt and the championship.
And a reply to 50. Villa_Chris Wrote: | 12.18GMT | Mar 5, 2009
I read the comments from yesturday and i was disgraced yes we can have the whole huff puff and upset at a defeat, but jease no wonder we are known at the fickle fans of EPL! these are the same people that Boo the team and have wrecked the confidenece. So much for true villa fans!
Reply to keefvilla:
HEY!!
Reply to flowershopboy:
I agree.
Just went through the BBC predictor and even being as even handed as I can, I still think we'll be 4th before the final game kicks off. If we can get 6 points from our next 4 matches, I think we'll be well set. Win against Spurs and we're back on track and Everton minus Arteta is certainly winnable.
Reply to TheMachine:
Yeah I agree. Although when I did the predictor thing we came 5th, but only on goal difference (that included losing last night AND only getting a draw with Spurs next week) So, if we can turn that into a win we'll be back on track.
Our away trips aren't too bad- we love the Riverside, and Fulham won't have anything to play for.
Reply to Mlockey89:
Totally agree with your comments. Love MON to bits and glad he's our manager but he needs to stop being so stubborn with his ways. Gutted about last night, really thought MON would change the line up, especially the defence.
It's time for Shorey to step up, get a run in the team. He's been good in his last few appearences and to be fair judging on those performances it's not Shorey thats off form, it's Davies. Rest Davies for a while, bring in Shorey and try to settle that backline.
Also i know a lot of people are calling for the 4 5 1 to come back and i would agree because we have some really tough games coming up. How about Ashley in the free roaming position again? Goals seemed to fly in last season for the few games he was playing in that position. Then for some reason when we played wigan and west ham at the end of last season MON changed young back to left wing and we stumbled.
Im just thinking it might add some bite and freshness to our attack. Petrov, Reo coker in centre, Barry on left, Milner on right, Ash in the free role and then maybe Heskey or Carew on their own. Gabby needs a rest and a kick up the arse, Please! Also Ashley young - Less diving and moaning and more playing again please, your starting to look like a bit of a prick at times and nothing like a 'world beater'.
Change is needed straight away and hopefully the mini holiday will see the team come back with some new ideas. The season can be saved.
UTV
I see us getting 67 points from 38 games.
That's wins against:
Everton (Home)
West Ham (Home)
Hull (Home)
Newcastle (Home)
Draws against:
Spurs (Home)
Fulham (Away)
Middlesbrough (Away)
Losses against:
Liverpool (Away)
Man United (Away)
Bolton (Away)
I hope 67's enough. I see Arsenal getting about the same, maybe they'll slip up again...
Don't be too downhearted boys. Still 10 games to go and we can still beat the Arse to 4th. They have a tougher run-in than us. We still need to pull our socks up though.
Here's a little something to cheer you all up
LINK
Maybe it is too early for us as a squad to be entering the Champions League. ANybody else agree?
I dont see any harm in having another season in the UEFA Cup, just to give us more time to develop the squad, but we can never know. If we finish 4th, make the champions league, then it all depends on what sort of business MON does in the summer.
I know its been said before, but we really do need around 6 quality additions to the squad to progress anywhere in the Champions League, but by finishing 5th. We can develop for one more season, which means another two more summer windows to add these quality players. . .
Also, i think this summer will be the time to add some foreigners into the side, because English players dont have the quality that can get you places in Europe. I'm nort sayin that every signing we make has to be Blah Blah from Spains or Blah Blah from Morocco, Just a smidgen of continental flair in there! But we'll never know!
Overall though, I think we will blow it, we just dont look like winning at the moment, and now its back down to 3 points its even more nailbiting than before!!! If we can take 4 points out of the next 3 games then i think that could give us something. Then after those three games, every remaining fixture is winnable!
Who knows. . . .
UP THE VILLA
BBC Predictor wont let me paste the results but we finish 4th. if im reallly nasty towrds us we finish 5th. but only by 1 point. and thats being really against villa!
i see it if we dont completely fall apart and arsenal continue being poop.
all is good have faith UTV!
This is still our best season for a generation - it can still be enjoyed!! Chins up guys
If MON does stick with 442, i'd like to see heskey and carew both start. It shows the oppostion what we are going to do, it wont be pretty, but im a winning man, winning games is the most important thing about football. When we were flying people on here called for a change to play "pretty" football, now we've tried and it hasn't worked. Join the line for the pie, you know who you are! I say get the big men up top, briuse the oppostion defenders, bring Gabby on for the last 30. We will win games this way.
I do believe MON should bite the bullet though and revert to 451. It worked, period.
p.s why rest players for the moscow game when we have 2 long breaks coming up anyway?!
UTV!
Reply to Stocky:
Becuase there lazy.
Right then...When we were playing 4-5-1 with Laursen in the team we were doing fine...Not scoring many, but our midfield were soaking everything up and helping the defence. WTF we bought Shorey as left back cover and fail to use him is beyond me..! Get the effin players playing in the right positions Martin. MON is pissing about with the players out of position like he did at teh start of the season. Watching the team play over the last 6/7 games has been awful. They have no idea's, no plan, just kicking the bloody ball anywhere at the moment. Why put Milner to RB last night..WTF..!! Should have put Shorey on for Davies and moved Young to RB and brought a midfielder on for Heskey and Fonz for Gabby.
I'm still in hope of a top 4 spot, but I am totally bemused by MON's substitutions and formation tactics. Also the transfer ethos he seems to have..!
We can all say we would have taken 4th at this point, at the start of the season, but the fact is we were in this position in December, so why not use that as a benchmark to push on from there. There is no excuse at all if this all goes South. Nobody can say we 'we have a small squad', 'We had injuries', 'we had suspensions' etc. The fact is, such eventualities have to be planned for.
I may be feeling dispondent this morning and losing a bit of the faith, but there are glaringly obvious problems that could have avoided.
Think I need a bloody good drink this weekend...!
How many would Citeh have scored 1st half with a fit Bellamy and Robinho???!!
Anyone else a bit bemused how we can go from being remarkably deadly from set pieces last season to utterly poor? I know we miss Laursen, but we've a plethora of good aerial players.
How I wish we had Tim Cahill... To think Taylor nearly swooped for him before he went from Millwall to Everton. He'd get us 15 goals a season from midfield and would die for the cause.
It's got to be 4-5-1 against Spurs. 4-4-2's just not working for us at the moment. And Gabby was a hell of a lot better up front on his own.
Reply to __AA__:
Yeah, and me!
Just filled in the predictor thingy, wish I hadn't!!
all this talk about the Arse having hard games at Man ure, Pool and Chelsea, doesn't make much sense as Arse are more than capable of going to these places and getting a result which is more than can be said for us, i really think the turning point of our whole season came in the last 5 mins against stoke, if we could of held on the gap would have been 8 points, the Arse's heads would have dropped and we would have gone up another level, as it is now arse now expect to get 4th place, and i think with what mon said on sky sports so does he
Reply to __AA__:
"Think I need a bloody good drink this weekend...!
"
.....And a bit of rumpy-pumpy
Reply to Stocky:
Did we get relegated?
Reply to Christian1983:
Yeah, instead of the baggies!
Reply to hellboydce:
Exactly. The thing people are missing is that Arsenal take more points from Liverpool, Chelsea and UTD. They seem to play better againest these teams and have taken 7/9 points this season so far. Also come the end of the season and Utd have the league won, Chelsea and Liverpool are safely in 2nd and 3rd and all are still in CL they may not put full strenght sides to face Arsenal as they probably will have CL qrt and semi finals to play. That is a worst case senario but there is a good chance that Utd will have the league won with 4 or 5 games to go.
Reply to Stocky:
Sorry coming back to this late guys ..
ak_27
Everyone on here will know (or most will anyway) that I wasn't the biggest fan of Barry - but I gotta hold my hands up and say when we're playing five in the middle Barry is much better - in my opinion. He gets more involved, has a little more time and dare I say it, could be one of our best three players.
When you put him in a four man midfield - the game is different and we saw that last night when we went to three in midfield - he got more time becasue they were having to drop a man back to deal with our three strikers ...
This is to someone else .. forgotten who; re. hoofing the ball long.
I don't actually mind if we have to hood the ball long as long as we finish third this season - or even 4th. We need better quality players in the team to play like United or Arsenal and we don't have them yet - but if we can secure top four this season and get two better players and finish top four again the next season and get two or three better players, we will be able to.
But Martin O'Neill is dealing with what he has got at the moment. I believe things will change if we finish top four. If we don't we're going to get stuck with UEFA Cup and I've no idea how we're going to deal with that after making a joke of it this season.
We looked like Burnley and played like Burnley.
This is why I get annoyed, the top 4 have a monopoly and it has made the premiership boring as fuck especially Man Utd winning everything, £40 a ticket to see your team lose to those cheating bastards. We will not beat Arsenal and I will be proved right and a whole season to get into the uefa will have been wasted and I want apologies from everyone. I am not a pessimist I am a realist and take no enjoyment from being proved right. January why the fuck didn't MON buy decent players? Idiot
Reply to AVFCBlog:
But still, if we do only get Uefa cup next season, it won't be a disaster. I'll be happy with that, as long as next season we go for it and try to win it. Lets not forget its been years since we were in Europe, so its still a progression in my eyes.
)
It was a gamble resting players and putting all his eggs into one basket so to speak, but sometimes you have to gamble, you're a betting man yourself. (Plus I lost £14 on the Moscow game!
We have come to expect too much from our beloved Villa,lets be honest, we haven't got a squad of the size, or indeed the experience that the normal big 4 have. This season has been a massive achievement so far, and if we finish 5th, still an improvement on last.
Keep the faith!
UTV
Reply to AVFCBlog:
But what does that really say everythig about Barry as a centre midfielder if we have to play an extra man in there in order for him to be more effective. I have never really taken to Barry in the centre because for every good game he has he also has 2 pretty annoymous games. He is at his best when he is on the ball and I believe when he was back on the left wing he was easier to pick out and he was far more creative and dangerous out there. I get the impression that he thinks he is too good to play out there now as he plays in the centre for England but next season we need to bring in at least one centre mid who can dominate games especially againest lower half oppents. We could then move Ashley perhaps up front or behind a lone striker where Ash could have a free roaming role for the team.
Reply to Villa_Chris:
But when will not breaking into top 4 be seen as a failure for MON? Because if he doesn't change the way he operates in the transfer windows i can't see us doing it next season either.
Reply to ak_27:
Agreed. But there's no point in speculating about the future. Life is full of 'ifs' and 'buts'. Anything can happen in football....(Stoke) and with 10 games left, who's to say we wont go on to win 6 or 7 of them and get top 4?
I'm sure MON's transfer policy isn't as plain and simple as people like to make out. You really think he just thinks, for example, that just signing Heskey would be enough for us this Jan? Because I don't. He will have worked really hard in trying to strengthen the squad for the remaining of the season in the last window. Things just aren't so easy in reality....players are given stupid price tags (Santa Cruz), teams wont let their best players go (Barry).
What I'm getting at is MON is fully aware of what it takes to compete at the highest level, give him a break. Here's one for ya.....Rome wasn't built in a day
From my C&B heart- all i can here is the pownding of
UTV UTV UTV UTV UTV! ! ! !
90 wooooooooooooop
Reply to Mlockey89:
You say some strange things sometimes mate!
Must be the Geordie in you....
since we bought heskey and went 4-4-2 its been all downhill, time to go back and utilise the players talents in their most effective positions. we're not good enough to play 4-42 away from home, people say we have a good midfield but we dont really. we're weak in midfield da exta man in there accounts more for it
Reply to Villa_Chris:
If MON was in charge of building Rome they would still be building the Colosseum. He would be saying that the right bricks just aren't available at the moment.
Reply to ak_27:
Ha ha ha ha! good one!
Reply to __AA__:
i couldnt have but it better myself, well said mate
AK some very intelligent comments recently. I half agree about Barry. However he HAS been one of Englands most consistent performers in a 4-4-2 over the past year. The difference with his England role is that he has players he can play short passes to, releasing the ball quickly. It's also easy for us fans to assume players are either 100% fit or unfit. Unfortunately the truth is very few are ever at 100% fitness. Barry, Young, Davies, Gabby, Cuellar - they are all playing but they are nowhere near fully fit. It's unfair to judge them on their current performances.
Reply to AVMark:
What do mean recently. My comments are always very intelligent.
Let's not get carried away AK there's always room for improvement.
The entire team looked tired and uninspired. Don't know why Carew didin't start (again). The only time this year we looked worse was at Chelsea. Should have used all 3 subs by th 60th min. If the squad on the field isn't getting the job done they need to have a seat.
Time off might be the answer- let's hope.
UTV!
Reply to ak_27:
Hehehehehe!!! Brilliant
I feel like the season's over right now - I hope the players don't feel the same way. It all went wrong when we signed Heskey - I don't blame him, I actually like him, but MON seems determined to play him every game and that seems to mean starting with 4-4-2 even though the results don't back it up...
Atko I entirely agree. I thought Heskey would be used to plug the gaps not be our primary weapon. We just don't have the "fox in the box" striker to thrive off Heskey's nuisance style.
as i said (i think) heskey came here because MON guaranteed him a staring place when fit at the expense of carew, otherwise he would have waited till the summer and gone to liverpool
hellboydce I don't believe any manager ever guarantees a place. It's the salary that let's a player know how much he is wanted. I think MON has always wanted to play 4-4-2 and there have been issues to do with Carew.
i wouldn't have thought we would pay him more than liverpool, and there is most def something going on with carew, cause he has come back and even not fully fit he has scored
Interesting , I thought the Acorns thing would only be for one season
LINK
Reply to Villa_Chris:
Did Mon not admit three quateres thro the window he had not made an offer for anyone
Now thats working really hard
Reply to Altan:
Thats cheered me up a bit after yesterdays result, good work Villa!
Reply to ak_27:
exactly right
Reply to AVMark:
Ha ha ha ha
I think O'neill needs stop buying former players he used to manage...most have been a waste of money or not given a chance, apart from petrov who took time to settle , now has come good. Its the same with maloney , i think he should stayed longer , settled and would have been a success. And now we have Heskey , who cant score. O'neill i beleieve only bought him because they were friends, is a waste of money , cant score, cant run , and still he is in the starting 11, and Injured!! How can he be our no1 striker? Martin Laursen probably has a better goalscoring record this season than him!! jokes , but my point is, John Carew - who scores, who is a better player, and when he plays, we play better! and he isnt in the starting 11 - its crazy !
I think O'neill should stop complaining about the size of his squad and realise that he can actually do something about it in the transfer window. Stop buying players who are useless in our team!
I mean look at ashley young - it was a risk - great signing - world class now
Come on Villa! Lets get back on track and finish on a high - O'neill is our man!
Reply to taglor:
Your comments aren't the best but no need to sign yourself off as "Idiot". Oh, MON. That's right, he's an idiot. Stroll on.
Just seen Villa Fan Climbing Kilimanjaro with Chris moyles on the Day 4 of the climb
Come on lads get your wallets out & sponsor him to the top
LINK
ak_27,
You are the eternal optimist. MON not buying Palacios will not cost us 4th place. The reason why we have over achieved this season is by more or less sticking to the same team and keeping faith. Fielding a weakened side in the Uefa was the right thing to do. Even with a full squad, your supposing that we'd win? - No!
We were due a poor spell, and the result against Stoke was disastrous, but not against Chelsea or Citeh. You berate MON as a fool, but he has surpassed any manager I've witnessed at Villa over the past 20+yrs. He continues to progress the club in the right direction, give him some credit.
I don't see any of the people on here, slagging off our recent form and the terrible blunders MON is making having a pop at Chelsea, Liverpool or Arsenal. These teams have had the privilege of having sustainable funds over many years in order to build a team of quality.
Any one of these three could fall out of the top 4, along with us. The difference is, we were not expected to be in the top 4 this season. Check the odds at the beginning of the year. I think Everton and Spurs were ahead of us . DECO - crap signing. BABEL - crap signing. KEANE - crap signing. MALOUDA - crap signing. EBOUE - crap signing.
MON has transformed a crap team in to near title challengers in a considerably shorter time and without recklessly spending cash. He's got the b****x to stick to his plan, which by and large has worked. It would have been nice if he could have got one or two more signings, but he didn't, so get over it.
Now we have shown what we are really about, this summer transfer window will be alot easier to attract the right player for AVFC. Like you and me, MON is not infallible, but he's taking this club in the right direction. He has kept us in the top 4 the entire season. Lucky results my arse. You create your own luck. Own goals are as a result of pressure from the opposing team. We were unlucky not to get max points against Arsenal, Liverpool and Stoke.
This break will be just the tonic for the final push, it's in our hands. Next season will not start in July, we will have a bigger squad with more quality and will be up for the challenge of the CL.
Children, there is still more than a quarter of the season to go and there is still all to play for. Its time to be grown ups, retain full sphincter control and support your team. Save the whinging on about the manager or the formation until the end of the season.
And FFS stop going on about the January window. The only team that bought anyone in the window was Tottenham who made total twats of themselves by buying a shed load of players they'd just offloaded. Bringing in a load of players in the January window is a gamble that you take if you are up shit creek and trying to get out of it eg Harry at Portsmouth, Harry at Tottenham. It is not when you add quality that is going to get you from the UEFA to the CL positions. The end.
Reply to Ipbopmalik:
If you had made that post 10 minutes earlier I wouldn't have bothered! Too right.
Reply to Leftwingextremist:
Thanks. Prefer your Cadbury caramel approach though!
Reply to TheMachine:
Stroll on? Ha I bet you talk in cliche's just like the footballers you worship because you are too stupid to have your own thoughts.
Please don't get me wrong guys, but I love d Villa. I've grown up beside Arsenal and Manure fans here in Ireland and just for once it's been brilliant to be able to say that we are real contenders for the Champion's League this year.
I feel Martin O' Neill made a major blunder when he signed Emile Heskey.
I agree with anyone who says Gabby needs a rest.Maybe he should get his ego out of every grotty niteclub in Brum and start concentrating on his football. This boy was linked with a 15 mill move to Arsenal last year, Arsene Wenger wouldn't give him a second glance now. He has bucket loads of potential and I would love to see him succeed both as a footballer, and a person.
Fourth place? It would mean a hell of a lot of slip ups by Arsenal and Everton,we don't take pressure very well and I fear for us against Utd and Liverpool. I'm praying for a strong finish and I hope O' Neill sorts out our littl;e Heskey problem.
UTV
well done to the villa for continuing their sponsership of acorns into next season,we could of got millions next season especially if we got into the championa league,mind you acorns may as well have the money seeing as mon would not of spent it any way
.i cannot beleive we are gonna buy joe hart for 3 million??,can he play centre forward or left back 
TITS. I haven't felt as disappointed as a Villa fan in years after that stoke game. Fucking Stoke. Citeh I'm not so bothered about, but this is our slump and minimising the slump is what it's all about now. Fucking STOKE.
124.
125.
126.
Reply to taglor:
taglor why would anyone owe you an apology? A lot of people have raised questions about whether we are good enough for top 4. What annoys people about you is you seem to revel in us losing and not getting to top 4 rather than suffering like the rest of us
No one will owe you an apology where ever we finish
Reply to taglor:
Oh yeah, people also dislike you because you seem to think everyone but you is stupid. And you prefer wrestling to football. And you correct people's spelling and grammar on a football site because you think it somehow makes you superior. And you slag off working class people and jobs despite the fact that your job is working class (commendable but no less working class than the jobs you savage so thoroughly
So as the Machine says, please do stroll on