Post Villa v Spurs Fans Match Reactions

Some post match reactions:

Leftfoot: ‘what is concerning is the same stuff is happening week after week for us…we lack imagination….’

Voiceoftheholte: ‘Positive things from the day. I bumped in to Fear in the pub before the game. We were 1 – 0 up after 15 minutes. And that is about it. Lets not accept the drivel that we were OK in the first half. In the first half we scored a lucky goal with our only serious effort. Spuds had shots saved by Friedel, cleared off the line, hit wide or over when really they should have done better. The second half was embarrassing. Had we have lost by 3 or 4 goals today it wouldn’t have been an injustice.

I am bored by the constant talk of formations. It is obvious apart from the odd exception that by having Milner and Young in the team, we are left desperately short in midfield. They hog the touchlines and leave the midfield two with far too much ground to cover. They are knackered after 60 minutes and probably explains why we concede so many late goals. This is why we always get results by playing 433 and hardly ever (with the odd exception) when playing 442. The only two victories we have had away from home were playing 433. We have failed to win in every away game that he has played 442 this season.

Of our 14 games, 5 have been against teams currently in the top half and 9 in the bottom half. 5 of our next 6 league games are against top half teams. I hope I am proved completely wrong, but by persisting with this failed formation we will be in the bottom half at the turn of the year. We have the personnel and depth to not just be challenging for the top 4 , but for the top of the table. But we look a million miles away from that. We have the players so MON needs to start delivering performances. Tuesday is now looking like a very big game. Lose to a team who can’t buy a result like they could when ** Redknapp was in charge, then MON will have to have a close look at just how he progresses from there.’

ExpatVillaShirt ‘I got up at 4.30 AM to watch that. Disappointing. Let’s hope we pull ourselves together for Tuesday.’ (v Portsmouth in the league cup)

tvrwhitey ‘well done Brad, Beye and Carlos today they saved our bacon’

StuLinney ‘Let’s see if MON learns any lessons. Actually forget the lessons, MON should learn the facts regarding our 4-4-2/4-5-1 performances. The lessons I learnt from yesterday is that we play better with Reo-Coker in the line-up, MON has his obvious favourites (regardless of talent or lack of) Sidwell was a waste of money, Beye & Dick Dunne are VERY lucky to be playing in our shirt, Carew wasn’t interested (again), Spurs won the game 1-1, Spurs love to use their hands (except Gomes of course), the ref loved Spurs, Spurs love Harry (for the time being), Harry loves MON, MON loves Heskey, Heskey used to be S H I T E – still is, Reo-Coker can’t shoot, Luke Young isn’t left footed, Warnock had the sniffles, Cuellar’s beard is coming along nicely, MON forgot Downing was on bench, Gardner & Delph will never get a chance & most of all, we played that poor we made Spurs look good during their 1-1 win!’

leftfoot ‘nice words stulinney and i feel compelled to add to it. sidwell looks like he has as much going on in his head as he contributes to the game – nothing…’

As quoted in my match report: Spursex ‘I have to say, I’ve always thought Mon liked to try and put together teams that want to play decent football, but I can now understand why some here get so frustrated with him..especially when you have so many very good players..it just looks to me that you didn’t have the confidence to play, and apart from Milner no one seemed to want the ball…that has to have something to do with how the team is prepared/instructed how to play’

And LewChatterley’sLover ‘Embarrassing gulf in class today. When Milner and Young don’t play well we just don’t play any decent football. What we do is fairly effective – but it’s down to good defending plus occasional flashes of pace and old fashioned route 1 up-and-at-em attacking.

It reminds me of Saunders and Gregory eras – we look pretty shit but still manage to compete in the top 6. Back then you could win things that way. These days however, with 4-5 of Europe’s best playing in the Premier League we can’t expect any return to glory with this approach.’

VillaRob ‘I think a big difference between our players and spuds last night was confidence. They were playing like lions while we were playing like scary cats.’

Olofthegreat responding to attempted Spuds wind ups added: ‘Spurs are brilliant, I think they’ll win the league. It was great that they scored with a handball assist, wonderful skill. We were honoured to host last seasons league cup finalists and their lovely fans who aren’t at all arrogant, nor do they have chips on their shoulders about being forever in Arsenal’s shadow. I also love their manager, such a loyal, honest, polite fellow. They really are a big team.’

Then we get this spoof from someone who I think I can politely term as slightly less of a fan of MON than many appear to be!!!

Albarnista: ‘This has to go down as an excellent point gained against a team with a realistic shot at finishing in the top four. No doubt Spurs will be disappointed at dropping two points, but let’s hear Villa getting some credit for denying a superior side victory. Just don’t get me started on why Villa are inferior to the likes of Spurs…’

‘who cares if we’re inferior to Spurs? Today we won a point against them, which should be cause for celebration shouldn’t it? After all, we couldn’t reasonably be expected to compete with a club like Spurs when we’re just a small provincial, club who, when you think about it, are punching above their weight simply by being in the Premiership! I mean, I can’t remember us winning anything ever, and yet we’ve just taken a point off a team who reached the League Cup Final last season! O’Neill specialises in getting the most out of small clubs with limited resources, such as Villa, and, though he might not be perfect, I can’t think of anyone who’d be better for Villa. Admittedly, O’Neill might not be capable of dealing with clubs with more illustrious histories and loftier ambitions (Wigan, Hull, Fulham are obvious examples), but for us he’s perfect. Why can’t people see how lucky we are to have O’Neill as our manager? If we had ANY other manager we’d drop out of the football league quicker than you can say ‘Grantham Town away’.’

Ahem!

On the positive side, we did get a point against a team who played very well (as Nimmo said after the game at the pub, that was probably the best team we’ve played this season and we did at least get a point from it)