Well, the headline might seem a bit strange, but that’s actually how I see this game, if truth be told.
Of course, I want us to win it, but if we assume that Kevin Macdonald is correct when he says this’ll be the only game he takes charge of, the result doesn’t really mean or tell us much, does it?
I’m obliged to talk about the game, even though I very much doubt I’ll get to see it and it’s a bit of a sideshow.
Squad news;
Millwall have Jed Wallace back from suspension, while Tom Bradshaw, Steve Morison and Aiden O’Brien are pushing for recalls after coming off the bench on Wednesday.
As for the Villa, Chester is suspended after deciding not to appeal, due to the risk of having the suspension increased. A wise choice, in my opinion; we need him back as soon as possible.
Mile Jedinak is out.
We have a poor record against Millwall away, with us not having won in the last six trips there.
But looking at their record this season, that’s also poor.
They haven’t won in their last eight games, a record pretty similar to Preston’s.
Which should mean we have reasons to be confident, eh?
Er, well, combine the way the way we collapsed against Preston and the fact that every team on an awful run seems to turn it around against us and I’m not at all confident.
Macdonald might try something a bit different, like playing players in their best positions as much as he can, but I don’t see him changing too much. It’s not his style and he’s more of a continuation of what went before.
You never know, he might get us trying something consistent for two halves, though.
I’m going for something like 2-2 and that’s being generous to us, to be honest.
No, on second thoughts, Millwall can score and we can always concede, even if Chester plays.
A 2-1 loss, I’m afraid.
Onto the most important issue then (for the next week or two at least), I see David Moyes has been installed as the favourite for the manager’s job.
There’s not a hope in hell he will get it.
He’s another old school, yesterday’s man, far too similar to Bruce.
And the word is he turned us down, the last time we approached him. Enough said.
And then Dwight Yorke has announced that he’s put his CV in.
Is he for real?
He has no experience and while he was a good player for us, that’s all there is.
Dwight, stop embarrassing yourself, get into a lower club, demonstrate some success and actual work and us fans might well approve your application in the future.
You have to admire his cheek though.
Comments
116 responses to “Millwall – Villa; A slight distraction to the manager hunt”
Apologies if I don’t seem too interested in this particular game.
I assure you, it’s a one-off.
Agree with you on all of that.
Moyes has looked like a broken man ever since ManU gave him the push – and after McLeish and Lambert {& dare I say, Bruce?} we don’t need another dour, moody, tormented-looking manager – actually I’d sooner bring Sherwood back than appoint Moyes.
As for Yorke, I see he’s been playing the ‘race card’ – apparently his CV gets ignored for the same reason that he says there are too few non-white managers in football here – never seems to occur to him that perhaps serving a coaching apprenticeship in the lower leagues for a few years might just be what’s missing from his CV…
I believe Yorke has the badges.
So why doesn’t he have a go anywhere, if he’s so confident?
That’s what gets me, with him.
There’s loads of smaller clubs who would love the attention that he’d bring, I’m sure.
As for the race card, that’s utter tosh on his part.
Darren Moore has just won manager of the month and the boggies are loving his footy.
All just up the road from what used to be one of the most racist areas in the country.
I wouldn’t want Yorke anywhere near the running of our club. I don’t agree with it being a racist thing. That said, unless you are black I guess you don’t really understand racism. This country, like most others, is racist. Oops, too political for here I guess and probably rightly so.
Yorke Left Villa for Man U, working his way up to a bigger club.
There’s a vacancy at Old Trafford just a few weeks away so here’s a suggestion for Yorkie. This time – why not start at the top and work your way down?
🙂
DS, you’re right, it’s too political for a footy site.
I totally understand and agree with what you say, as someone who has actually called for us to look into the local Asian pool of kids.
But any more posts along this line will be deleted.
It’s not the right place.
Suffice to say, I believe the vast majority of footy fans don’t have a problem with players of any colour, these days.
It’s about how they perform and nothing more.
MOVING ON,
I really can’t see us getting much here.
7-0 Villa – I really must cut down on the whisky ……….
On a more sober note, a draw (or should I say ANOTHER draw) would be a good result given the current situation but I fear we will be undone so I’m going to curry favour with Badger and agree on 2-1 Millwall – another ruinous weekend for my poor liver!
Curry favour?
Why?
Call me out, if you think i’m wrong!
That’s the whole idea, as I’m sure you know.
Apologies Badger – my strange sense of humour – it was not supposed to be taken seriously. I must learn how to do the smiley face again!
The only interesting thing from tomorrow’a game for me is to see whether KMcD’s starting team includes any of those players who didn’t get a start under Bruce so far this season.
Steve Bruce had his good points as far as I’m concerned, but he also exhibited one trait a little similar to MON: players seemed to suddenly get sidelined and left out in the cold, and once ‘out’ found it very difficult to get any sort of look-in again.
Just seen Rui Faria – Mourinho’s long time assistant and one of Badger’s ‘other geezers’ (aka Mendes stable) has appeared with a strong run from nowhere to be 7/4 favourite with oddschecker. No compo needed as he left Manure in the summer.
Long time assistant managers making good managers – big gamble!
Just hope he doesn’t bring Jose with him…
LOL
But then again – IF he brought John Terry back with him as his assistant, that might be a result!
Is anyone else starting to think we’ve made a terrible mistake? If the cabbage was the final straw, then basically, a few nutters are running AVFC. If the penalty went in, we’d by joint top 6 and 5 off the top. About this time last year, we went on a winning streak. Maybe it was coming, who knows…
Simply on his promotion record, yes, we might have made a huge mistake in ditching Bruce; but too late now to undo it.
No, not at all, BFR.
Beating Preston would have meant nothing given the way we’ve played for ages.
I prefer to go back to that last 20 odd games, where the record was utter rubbish.
If we’d retained Bruce, we’d be “there or thereabouts” at best.
If that’s good enough for you, yes, we’ve made a terrible mistake.
And we ain’t going anywhere fast with the non-defence we have.
Just my opinion.
I guess time will tell!
No. 100% right to do this. Nothing against Bruce. He simply wasn’t good enough. We will be better under the new manager, and if we aren’t he’ll go until we get the right one. i do have a good feeling about this though
While we are waiting for the anointment…….
Can I take you back to the big story which is how effective one cabbage was in removing a manager?
Villa have always been trend-setters in football. We invented the league after all, so we can now expect more copy-cat vegetable use. Look how long the Gooners spent making banners saying Assez – when Mon petit Choux would have done the job in a trice.
From now on – every under-pressure manager will be scanning the spiv barrows on the way in to the ground – looking to see if amongst all the moody scarves there’s a box or two of tomatoes.
Only question is will there be regional variations? Should Mick MacArthy have noticed Ipswich were getting beet too often, or Alex Neil at Norwich that he wasn’t cutting the mustard? Warnock won’t be surprised when his job is re-advertised – there’ll be leeks everywhere.
The manager who knows the sack is inevitable – now need only concern himself about what vegetable it contains.
So what do you predict will be the ‘final straw’ for Jose up at ManU – Eccles cakes? {OK, I know they’re not really veggies…}
Northerners not being into vegetables I’d guess that a tray of chips and gravy might be more appropriate
Ardent Pat, any idea what cabbage it was, a grey hound, ball head Savoy,or even a stone head.It’s no good them saying a cabbage , what type.
Ah OLL. You know your onions. Still, with the right carrot dangled, the perfect manager will be tempted and we will be top bananas again. Remember this date, and no sour grapes cos it will all be sorted in a trifle.
OK I’ll stop.
To curly that, and its Scottish. Bum bum.
What about a handful of kale?
Spoilt for choice. M U shrooms because he will spring up again, but since he is from Portugal – sour grapes.
oops you already did the sour grapes 😉
The king is dead, long live the king!
theirs no point talking about bruce now, if he survived or not, we might have finished here or there. looking forwards to the future many fans wanted. ok today game will not be the new start with new manager but it will be no less important. we need to end this run without a win. we have a very decent squad.some players are finding their feet at a new club and others are playing well below their standards they set last season. time for the team to show what they are about and win for fans and impress the new manager who might be there watching.
are we any closer to knowing who the new manager will be ??
Thierry Henry 8/13, Rui Faria 13/8, David Moyes 10/1, Paulo Sousa 12/1, Brendan Rodgers 14/1, Paulo Fonseca 14/1, Dean Smith 18/1, Paul Cook 25/1, John Terry 25/1
looks like its Thierry Henry which was what the new owners where going with before the season started. but changed their minds because of a fan poll they saw backing bruce. that RUI Faria is a coach of mourinho so he might be also a good addition.
looks like a two horse race now
Looking forward to welcoming our new manager. I can’t see it being any of the run of the mill choices, and I would be a bit surprised if it’s Dean Smith. The owners have to do two things which are tough to achieve at the same time – get a manager who can get us promotion this season, and attract the best players if and when we get there.
As for today, I’m not expecting much. No Chester or Jedinak. We are going to be a bit soft centred. Given that, we maybe need to be pushing Millwall back. Will we be confident enough to do that after the run we have had?
I think we will lose 2-1, but I’m praying for a win, or if not that at least some bright points that might suggest better times ahead.
DS, I think both Whelan and Birkir should sit and shield Axel and God knows who in defence. If the rest are free to play and attack, we might have a faint hope…
Maybe so. I’m more concerned about our weakness from set pieces than in open play. I need to stop thinking about it. The more I think about it the more concerned I am.
We won’t win today because with our nonexistent defence, the lions will smell blood…
On our prospective manager, why so negative on Yorke but Henry is fine? Same thing on paper, surely? And Yorke is ‘one of our own’ (yawn) which seems to count for a lot in today’s age of identity politics… I wonder if the negative press Yorke had in his personal life influences people subconsciously. Henry’s done nothing as a manager, like Yorke, so would we be happy with him?
That’s a fair question BFR. As far as I’m aware Yorke has done nothing since hanging up his boots. I may be wrong on that. Henry is a strange one, but he has at least coached for Belgium and is a more recent player. Henry would be a big risk, and coach to manager is a massive change.
I would prefer a manager who has a CV, and a reputation for producing teams that play on the front foot. I’m less concerned about experience in the Championship or Premiership – mainly as the ones that are available have been found wanting, often on multiple occasions.
I think the impatient among the Villa fans saw what Wolves did and thought ‘why not us’? So if those who forced Bruce out are to be pacified, a foreign name who’s tactically aware and plays great football is what’s required. There are probably plenty out there. Question is, can we get the right one? And if nobody’s heard of him, he’ll get zero time to start winning before fans start turning again. Make no mistake guys, Villa’s season and medium term future are on a knife edge. Big pressure on those in charge. It’s a lottery. I agree it was time for Bruce to go, but at least we knew what we were getting, which wasn’t all bad…
DS / BFR – I believe Yorke was assistant coach to Trinidad & Tobago but I don’t know for how long and it’s not quite the same as working under Martinez at Belgium but nontheless the point is well made. Henry just has a higher profile I guess.
So had DiMatteo – and that was a calamity!
Really don’t see why Henry should be in the running at all: as with Yorke, doing a bit of ‘assistant manager’ with any national team, without having the experience of managing a team every week in a competitive league just doesn’t make them a good prospect.
Of course there are a few top players who seem to walk into management and survive, even prosper [for a time] – Gerrard and Lampard being two current examples – but anyone without a solid record of managing in this league is going to be a massive risk. After last season, can Villa really afford another stake-all gamble?
I don’t really see we have a choice. Sacking Bruce pretty much means we won’t be appointing an Allardyce/Moyes type figure. I think the Henry interest says the owners want a “big name” for the job. That probably takes them into high risk territory – either unproven or with some success in another country. It’s going to be a gamble I think.
I just think that the Xia / Di Matteo experience might put them off trying a ‘big name’, just-for-the-sake-of it – but then again they might be big-time gamblers, and I’m not!
The like button gone again, Badger you speeding it up again ?
Back cheers.
Well Leeds and Brentford draw, 1-1 it seems a slow start for all of us. Today’s result, draw 1-1or 2-2.
Abraham scores 1 none villa
…and Bacuna scores at the Albion…
To good to be true, 1-1now..
Looks like normal service resumed Bill – lots of possession and no end product Millwall 7 shots to our 2!
Well I expected that Hitch, let’s hope the players respond and go on to win..
Sherwood trying to sell Eddy Howe to us keeps referring he’s younge man and would be good for Villa.
Would love Eddie Howe but think that’s highly unlikely.
So I take it that there’s no sign of the mysterious ‘geezer’ at The Den then? Wish they’d hurry up.
It would be nice to get something from this game, still think we could nick it 1-2.
I’d love it Pat 57.
2-1 Milwall. All over us.
…all teams know we’re weak and and vulnerable in defence, so they’ll go for the jugular. We’ve got another 3 months of this. I hope people are prepared to be patient. You can put Messi, Ronaldo, and Suarez in the team, but zero defence and shit goalkeepers = zero points I’m afraid. And that is why Bruce had to go.
It’s not what people want to hear, but I hope whoever comes in plays two holding mids in front of Axel and Chester in EVERY away game, and one at home to free up an extra attacker. Otherwise, season is over.