I was really hoping to get to see the game today, but we got loaded up with extra work, meaning it was impossible regardless of how sneaky I thought my plans were.
But from what I’ve heard, I’m glad I didn’t see it, as it sounds like we were running the show until Norwich scored, and then collapsed. All thoroughly depressing stuff and I’d probably have been fuming.
And again from what I’ve heard, it was yet again two basic errors from the defence; something that’s probably cost us even more than our lack of cutting edge up front.
So where does that result leave us?
Well, if you can’t beat a struggling bottom end side, you’re in trouble aren’t you?
Although I have to admit that for a few weeks I’ve thought we haven’t had the right to expect to beat any single side in the Premier league, given our performances. I’ve just been trying to keep it quiet.
And I’ll be surprised if we get anything against Sunderland either.
In fact, I can see Wycombe beating us too and it’s only the law of averages that says we might win one or two games in this season.
Things really are that bad.
Let’s face a few facts.
The defence is the worst I can remember in my forty five years of supporting the Villa.
The midfield is as lightweight as any I can think of.
And our attack is as blunt as a really blunt thing, maybe Ayew apart.
All in all, a team devoid of the quality that’s required to succeed in the top flight.
Not that I’m saying anything new. We all know it and it’s only blind optimism and hope that makes any of us think otherwise.
So what then, of the manager?
I like Garde.
He has a very understated way about him, very similar to Arsene Wenger, his supposed mentor.
There’s no doubting that he’s a technical type manager and we have seen improvement in the side since his arrival.
I also feel sorry for him, because he was dealt a dreadful hand to play with, given the dearth of quality and lack of fight in our squad, the odd few apart.
But he strikes me as too pragmatic at the same time, in that he plays the sensible and obvious approach, whereas sometimes you just have to go for it and take a gamble.
The worrying thing is that you normally see the players trying harder in any new manager’s first few games and if we’re seeing that now, where is that going to leave us for the rest of the season?
Not that I think it matters too much.
We’re beyond redemption, regardless of what happens from now.
I’ve called for Randy Lerner to invest in some serious quality if we’re to have any chance of surviving and now there’s even less chance of that happening.
Expect the usual £15, maybe 20 million or so come the window. An utterly pointless gesture, left too little and too late, which will only buy players that are ultimately not good enough for the Prem, but maybe adequate for the championship???
Which brings us onto the hierarchy.
Will we still be playing Moneyball?
I think that policy has proven to be an utter disaster and it’s not only because the players we’ve got in haven’t been good enough for the Prem. It’s more because I firmly believe they will be totally unsuited to the Championship, where graft and stamina, in playing two games a week on rubbish pitches, are the bigger requirements.
Given the way Remi Garde isn’t standing for players that aren’t willing to fight, I suspect the Moneyball thing might go out the window, personally.
Which brings us round to Randy Lerner himself.
Do you know the thing I find more worrying about our situation overall?
It’s the question I’ve been asking myself for a long time.
Why are the Villa fans just putting up with this, with no complaint?
I’m minded to think that now the reality is setting in, things might change and the fans might start protesting at the current state of the club, but the truth is I just don’t see it happening.
Twenty five or thirty years or so ago, when I was a lot more rebellious, I might have tried to instigate some type of campaign.
But the truth is I’m past that sort of thing these days. I don’t have the energy and certainly not the time either.
Is there no-one who can at least show Lerner that we aren’t happy, even though we’re resigned to the inevitable?
There’s only one song that I feel is relevant today;
I truly feel wounded today.
And am not ashamed to say I’m on the brink of tears 🙁
That’s how hard it’s hitting me, now the reality is setting in.
Gutted.
Lerner, you useless, totally naive, bastard.
Sorry lads.
This is the 2nd time I would of experienced relegation with Villa. The only difference feeling wise is this time we know it’s over long before it’ll be confirmed making it somewhat easier (if that is the right word) to stomach. Still hurts but the frustration and hate towards Lerner annoys me more.
We will be back. UTV
That’s good Badger let it all out to the group we are here to support you you are not alone.
History Repeats Itself
I remember a few years ago when Mr Lerner bought Villa, Cleveland Brown fans told us to be careful for what we wished for. I have dug out this – does it sound familiar?
http://www.cleveland.com/browns/index.ssf/2009/09/fed-up_cleveland_browns_fan_st.html
A Cleveland Brown fan started a petition for Mr Lerner to sell the club.
“The once proud franchise in Cleveland has not been competitive under the ownership of Randolph (Randy) D. Lerner and is killing the strong fan support for the Browns,” he wrote.
“Petition: We, the undersigned Cleveland Browns fans, ask Randy Lerner to do what is in the best interest of the Cleveland Browns, Cleveland fans, and the city of Cleveland, and sell the Cleveland Browns. The product on the field is unacceptable.”
Ultimately the Cleveland Browns were able to have their divorce from Mr Lerner.
Come on Mr Lerner, you may have the best intentions for Villa at heart, but you have a record of being incompetent in running sports clubs, it’s just not your strength. Sell up, write off your losses and allow our club the chance to be run by professional football people!
You tried, you failed, it is now time to step aside.
Is now the time to start a petition that reach out to all the other Villa websites and we sign up on mass for Mr Lerner to sell asap.
Sorry badger totally disagree on remi garde
He has had now 9 matches since appointed before spurs game under McDonald but our performance have been shocking v spurs Everton aresnal first half Newcastle even today seen second half no fight to injury time thenayew Westwood get themselves banned for next match
Only player dropped Gaby to be honest after watching rudi last 2 matches he s shocking nearly take Gaby back, Hutton has been woeful defensive wise up now to16 goals from his side,guzan flaps at everything ,Clark made goal co ceding errors are still playing
Kozak can t get a run out why
Traore got 35 mins today needs to start
Ilor still not fit
Where is crespo when above plus bacuna completely wrong position and Richardson playing
No okore today or explanation why
Surely some young lads have to be options
Gil freakish not like gana Westwood are pulling up any tree’s
So many questions but main one why no effort today if playing for garde
JVillan,
I can’t talk about today, because I didn’t see it and won’t be watching on MOTD either.
I’ve seen your questions and they’re very valid.
But you can only assume Garde goes by what he sees on the training ground.
This is why I think he’s a bit too pragmatic.
We all know McGrath was a shit trainer, but one of the best players to ever pull on a Villa shirt.
As for Kuzak, it’s 3 managers now, that just don’t rate him.
Are they all wrong?
Maybe, given that I don’t rate any of our last 3 managers highly.
But for all we know, he just might be another one of those players who aren’t playing the game and are causing trouble.
Gabby and N’zog won’t be the only ones, I’ll bet, is what I’m saying.
And Garde, I’d guess, will put triers before better quality.
It’s all ifs and buts, but something stinks down the Villa and trouble making players is the best I can come up with.
Okore was injured tbf. Traore reminds me of Tony Daley great buzz when he gets ball can best 10 players but his final ball is crap
Good job i couldn’t edit that Badger. Id have made it stronger, Badger sad thing is i look back at what i did the time we went down, I kicked a car that belonged to one of the board member in anger, A Yank as ruined our club , that’s what Yanks do no brains, just money they know how to kick you in the teeth. The Brits should not let foreigners into games they know fuck all about.
Bill,
You can’t be too strong in the headline post, as it just seems too reactive from the off.
I do worry though, because you have a certain site that offers a weekly “reasons to be cheerful” approach and it seems to run through many Villa fans.
While I love an optimistic view and indeed try to be optimistic myself, I personally feel it’s an approach that is now outdated.
The attitude needs to change and the only way we’re ever going to get Lerner out, is to seriously complain.
The truth is, I don’t see it coming from the younger generation, as they’ve been brainwashed into sucking shit for too long, generally.
But who am I to talk if I can’t be arsed to start a campaign myself?
Campaigning is a waste of time Letner is here to stay and even if he did sell it would only be to a mercenary bunch of suits who will form a consortium take the money and run
I’m now living in Oz so finding time to watch the matches live is difficult but the last 3 matches I’ve woken up at 2am to watch…why? I don’t know.
There are definite signs of improvement, we retain possession better and generally pass the ball around better. But the moment we lose it we just seem to lose the plot and the moment the opposition gets possession you worry that they’ll create a chance…and they often do. Norwich were restricted to one chance in the first half and they scored, much like West Ham and Newcastle games.
The defence then falls apart. Heads drop and there’s no sign of fight besides Ayew, and Richards today.
I’m resigned to relegation now, if we’d have won these next two games then there was a slight glimmer of hope. Now though there’s no chance. And, like many, I don’t see us coming straight back up as we lack the fight and desire and plus, the relegated teams in 2016-17 season will be financially better off than us and so make it harder for us to progress.
I can only see one solution, Randy reduces his asking price, we sell to a motivated passionate buyer and then the team is built up around the youth we have coming through the ranks.
Will that happen? No. Lerner is too stubborn and a coward. I truly fear we will be another Coventry City at this current rate. I hope I am wrong.
Well summed up Melbourne villain
Your not alone Badger. There’s an atmosphere in our house this evening. The wife and kids are afraid to speak to me as they know I’m so gutted. But every cloud has a silver lining and we should be using these next 19 games as pre season friendlies for next year in the championship. That way we might have a chance of competing next year. Get rid of the whole squad and start from scratch.
JVillan – appoint another manager = same outcome. You’re grasping at straws; the reality is we have the worst squad quality wise in the prem and very possibly in the Chamionship. Lerner has destroyed a great club with over a 100 years of history in a mere 5 years.
Ellis started the decline, didn’t he? lol
He did actually. He broke up the European cup squad and got us relegated within 5 years just like Lerner had. He couldn’t bear it that we had our most successful period ever under the Bendalls. Graham Taylor by all accounts did us a favour by joining us and getting us back in division 1. By all accounts the club was a complete shambles when Taylor took over exactly like it is now
If you want to debate the Ellis years then fair enough, but I’m not sure how anyone can blame him for the current plight given that the current bloke’s been in total control for 10 years?
Just saying that Ellis wasn’t any better though some people think he was. Plus he did sell to Lerner and all he cared about was the money and that he could remain president
Hitchen
I know Lerner’s to blame but don’t think the performances under Sherwood where as bad same story guzan Hutton Clark gave away goals missed chances other end but we have utterly white in half remi matches usually managers come in lift for few weeks at least to me we slid down slope further last 3 matches we started wrong line up every time and if you watch highlights every team targeted Hutton missing in action move we should started attacking players to get at both Norwich Newcastle two poor sides
I think we are well known for trouble making players, mis management at board level and getting in mnagers at the wrong time for the wrong reasons.
A lot of these players are now onto there 3d or 4th manager so they dont care anymore, if the manager says something they dont like then they wont perform or do as he says and then he gets sacked.
Our problems will only be resolved when we have a new owner followed by a new manager and a total overhaul of the whole club. Selling Gabby is a way of winning back the dressing room and any player who has been at villa longer than three years needs to be shifted
Morgan
Start with
Guzan,Hutton ,Clark ,Richardson ,lescott Bennet Westwood Cole zog sendross Gabby Sanchez for now feel free to add
Gestede and Sinclair can go too
tbh the only players I would keep are Ayew and Veretout, I would then bring on the young players and add some hard nosed championship players. We need players with big balls not pre madonna’s who only sign because they get to become captain and play in a preferred position that does not suit them.
I like Micah Richards but him being captain and playing at CB is evidence of the nonsensical way our club is being run
I’d add Amavi, Gana, Okora, Richards, Adama and Gil to that list.
Amavi is a big miss though not great defensively but a great crosser one of the reasons we can’t score
First 25 minutes we looked comfortable and relatively in control……Bacuna struggled at left back as did Richardson in front if him…..personally, I thought Sincair looked good in the opening 25…..tricky and seemed busy up top…..que the Norwich goal…..one sniff and they scored…..we then went to rat s@@t……..piss poor……second half I don’t recall one shot/attempts on goal…….Norwich were shite……we were no better or worse………just don’t have the quality…….especially in the final third
Agree but Sinclair does this all the time plays great for first 20 mins then fades away after that no matter what the score is
Lerner needs some unwanted publicity calling him out bedsheets ect ect he hates bad publicity so that’s the way to get to him chanting him out at games,singing for his head,banners all that type of stuff utv
Good point, but you know what dickheads the Villa Park stewards are. A4 pictures of Lerner, torn into shreds and tosses up in the air on the 50th minute. Pass it on.
They can’t stop and search everyone for a little bit of paper…Get everyone you know who’s going to the remaining games to print it out!!!!!
Ha ha ha ha ha, sounds like the kind of thing a 4 year old kid would do whilst plying pass the parcel. Love the part of the post where you say “pass it on”. Ha ha ha
Wouldn’t it be funny if it did catch on!!!:)
Bum bum, are you forgetting I was chief Steward 25 years ago, nothing got passed me then, only women in mini skirts. sorry I trained that lot and Bum bum I’d be better as manager today. Or would I? (Joke)
Sat down for the Muppet of the Day cameo from Guzan, only to find the Barcodes have found and even bigger clown in Darlow, who stole the goalkeeping errors show with staggering incompetence. Still Guzan ran him close – letting the all important first goal go straight through where he was standing. A good keeper might even have got to the second, but we don’t field one.
Sad Brad wasn’t even the worst defender Villa put out today, totally upstaged for “don’t care, cannot be in the right place, cannot be arsed” attitude of Richards. I have been unimpressed with Richards since Leicester, and his displays have gone downhill since. As a Captain he is a disgrace and as a centre back an embarrassment. I shan’t be spending anything on Villa tickets until he has gone.
I said when Fox came he must be good at his job because he held his post at Arsenal – one of the country’s best run clubs. But he was commercial director there, nothing to do with selecting a manager, a scout, transfer policy, or junior squad performance. At Villa he has had to oversee all those and failed abysmally, Without a radical overhaul Villa are headed for div one.
I think that we should start by getting rid of every player who isn’t likely to be with us when we get relegated. Okay we won’t win that many games but at least when we reach the Championship we might at least be able to hit the ground running,
It will be really hard in that league just look at some of clubs who have come up especially Watford still eighth in the League after a fluky win by Spurs.
If we don’t adopt this approach I’m afraid that we’ll free fall right through the Championship into Div 1. As far as I’m concerned Remi should now be on a damage limitation strategy.
To say I’m gutted doesn’t cover 1% of how I feel.
UTV
We have only won one game anyway we may as well start putting in the reserved nothing to lose now. We can sell most players in summer and hopefully reserves with a few additions will do a job for us
Well that was an absolute shambles today. After the West Game, I thought there may have been a glimmer of hope, but I think even the most optimistic of us have given up now.
Firstly, the team selection. Woeful. A must win-game and Richardson and Sinclair start ahead of Gil, Grealish and Traore. I’m sorry Remi, but wtf were you thinking??? Yes you have inherited a poor side, but no excuses for that today. Even Sherwood and Macdonald combined wouldnt have come up with that line up!
Secondly, the performance on the field. Hutton just isnt good enough, nor is Bacuna when out of position. Clark was dreadful, Westwood did sweet FA again. How much did we pay for Gana…9m? That more than Norwich’s midfield combined. Sinclair and Richardson…useless….even Richards was rubbish today. And as for Guzan, we may as well put a cardboard cut-out in net.
Lastly, the lack of passion from the players (bar the last 5 mins when 2 of them decided to get themselves out of the Sunderland game). Once we conceded, we never really looked like getting back into the game. Norwich were rubbish and yet still beat us and kept a clean sheet.
I’m not a huge Collymore fan, but he was right today. What a joke we have become. Our only win this season was a complete fluke on the first day of the season.
After telling myself, I’m not going to watch motd but I did by love of my club.how can any manager play plonkers like Hutton, Richardson, even Shearer said to Linaker poor, poor, defending, we as fans have known that for months and months, how and why cannot our club coaching staff? we have to have other players in our reserves far better than them pair of pricks, match after match Hutton sticks out a mile as poor player but they still play him, why? Richardson said by Shearer hadn’t an ounce of wanting in going for a ball, Richards picked out for not marking a player when he even seen that player as a danger. Garde still thinks we still in the game, I don’t no way do we have a chance we don’t even have any goal scorers Gestede crap as well.
Just watched motd painful to say the least,Richards captain??the bloke looked totally disinterested.Leicester were on 10 points this time last year difference being they offered more than the SHITE we put out the table don’t lie.
With our GD we’re actually now 12 points behind safety.
One person and only one person is to blame for our decline, Lerner.
No one else.
Yes Fox is arrogant and inept incapable of running a football club treats fans with contempt.
Yes Guards ability is questionable as to whether he has the capability to manage a prem or championship club.
Yes the players are championship and league one quality.
Yes fans have refused to acknowledge Lerner has the catalys and despite what he has done continue to believe the propaganda surrounding Lerners contribution to the club.
LERNER has full control of the club dictates the finances and employes only YES man.
Lerner uses his staff to deflect criticism and blame.
Lerner makes all the decisions Lerner has the power to change thinks but he won’t.
Lerner employed Mcleish Lambert Fox Sherwood no one to blame for this but Lerner.
Lerner has the final say. Why can’t some supporters see this?
As mentioned Fox is a yes man he is simply the figure head for Lerner. He does what he is told.
You can criticise the players and manger for their lack of ability and its valid BUT remember Lerner brought them to the club because they were cheap in the hope of selling on for profit.
We have been buying cheap for years with a minimum net spend.
We can’t evencompete with promoted clubs. Disgrace. Before someone says we spent 50 plus million last summer yes we did BUT we lost our best players and only just survived previous years with one of the leagues poorest sides. We required needed investment for years and certainly needed to spend on decent prem quality which we didn’t. Instead Lerner chose to gamble on cheap buys hoping to make himself a financial profit by selling on.
This approach should highlight Lerners mindset. A man looking for personal gain.
I guess Lerners plan was for the club to eventually sell their best players while continuing to struggle.
Majority of players are not Good enough. Majority of fans have known this for years but Lerner not Fox has accepted this. Actually Lerner has encouraged this approach.
I’m astonished how anyone can still have anything supportive to say about Lerner.
In particular those who look for excuses in order to defend Lerner and blame others.
Lerner out
That’s a bit harsh TED he did buy us lots of little flags to wave around in semi final so not all bad 🙂
You forgot the coaches he put on to the games free. Naughty lad.
The start of our demise was when we sold Dwight Yorke!
I reckon Johnny Dickson, Bencey83.Or might have been Pongo, ?.
Pongo Wareing – now ther was a great number 9 in true Villa tradition. Anyone know if Drake’s drum would work?
If only we hadn’t sold Tony Hately to Chelsea……
Or Andy Gray to Wolves