To think when I was a kid, I was in awe of Qpr when they had wonderful players like Stanley Bowles and Gerry Francis etc.
They disgusted me today with the way they timewasted, which is bad enough in itself. Was there a single player of theirs who didn’t go down injured?
Couple that with the way they kicked Grealish off the park in the away game and I don’t think I’ve wanted to beat such a dirty, cheating team as much, in a very long time.
To think they are led by an ex England manager too.
There’s being professional and there’s cheating, to mind.
And Qpr under McClaren are a disgrace.
Mind you, we didn’t exactly help ourselves, did we?
While we dominated the first half, it was far too leisurely for my liking.
We looked ponderous and slow.
We didn’t press enough and lacked energy.
It’s not like you can say it was tiredness either, in my opinion, because as soon as we went 2-1 down, we managed to up the tempo and maintain it.
It might seem harsh, but I think we can say “new manager syndrome” and the honeymoon period are over now for Dean Smith.
Yes, it’s been a punishing schedule. But it’s been the same for all of the clubs and we’ve come out of the Christmas run very poorly for a team aiming at promotion.
Even the overly optimistic me now concedes that the top two is beyond us and we have to look at the play-offs.
I’m not at all happy about that.
Yes, perhaps I’m being unfair.
But footy is a results driven game, simple.
And we’re not beating teams we should be.
I know.
Smith needs time to get his own players in. That’s fair enough.
But he needs to push us on now and restore my confidence, as it’s shot. Again.
Maybe after more reflection, I’ll change my mind.
in fact villa might need a result like this to move on. we are not great without the ball. fans blame the defence but its the whole team. swans are beating us today with good passing and brilliant movement and we can not track runs as we seen at forest and leeds
They just know how to get out of jail on passing ball around. We was standing still being beaten by the game of football.
Same old, same old Villa
you will get fans saying well we didnt want a cup run. but thats not why we lost. smith has loads of work to do. the squad is decent but they are not his players and some players are not comfy on the ball some do not track back we are not a good team unit. we have got some really good players that have dragged us to were we are but more is needed if we want to win promotion this year
But that’s the very same ‘excuses’ that were trotted out for Bruce – and hands up I was one of those trotting them out.
Once fans start making excuses for the manager ………
Whats the thing with Tammy…is he going back to Chelsea then out again ?
penny for the thoughts on new goalie.? ohare ?? and our result ???
Shite we are going nowhere ,so inconsistent it’s unreal
Tell me how are we going to improve with players that don’t think, don’t pass the ball , they had more idea than we did, Routlidge was showing us up today, only McGinn played his heart out, what good is that if your team mates don’t show willing.let’s get real we are going nowhere on that performance.
teams in championship are all very good and most play really good football. but most of us think they are rubbish and we should win even with our lose of form. swansea like preston leeds just a few of the last games they were all very close game and we could have won and lost all.
swans beat us today and they played really really good doing so. they kept the ball very well, they switched to placid to full on attacking us with a quickening of the tempo, which we do not have. we have one speed its full on and thats very intensive and energy sapping.
sometimes you get better in getting beaten. they will look at what happened today and they will try to put the wrongs right in training and in the next match.
Love your optimism Nath – I really do but I think if you look at dispassionately at the facts, we are going backwards – again. The reality is, this is not a ‘one off’ result but a thrashing that’s been on the cards for a few games now; we are completely open to a counter attacking team and the rest of the Championship will have taken note.
It’s now about rebuilding for next season – getting rid of the loanees and show boaters and putting a team together that can play consistently well and for the shirt.
Dean Smith has to demonstrate whether all the hype around his appointment – the new, exciting face of young England managers – has substance ….. or not!
i have seen the counter attacks space we leave and mentioned it loads, but all teams are open to the same countering its just villa dont seem to be learning from this and all i can say is this is down to swapping of players at the back not having a settled back line and defensive mid means you never get the continuity. we cahnged the goalie today today, elphick is having his only second game back.
do you think waving a flag on the season is a good calculated judgement, or just cause your upset its a rash statement you wont remember making, come summer when we are in playoffs
apart from today were we were soundly beaten. i cant remember too many times we come off the field waving your white flag, today happens and they will come back stronger. they need too and all the games are hard in this league. being 10% off your game will mean your gonna struggle. we will be back
I’m not waving a white flag Nath; I’m trying to be objective and it’s not the first time I’ve raised concerns over our performances of late. I would also point out that I’m not the only one that has posted concerns on here.
It’s pointless saying we’ve only lost one (league game) in the last whatever as a positive when equally one can say we’ve actually only won one over the same period and none at home.
That is not promotion form and I genuinely don’t see the cohesive quality needed to change that around. Yes, I agree we’ve suffered injuries to key players but so have other teams but, arguably, they’ve managed better than us on more limited resources – PNE bring a recent example.
The sad thing is, I really couldn’t care less about today’s game – so we’re out of a cup we’re never going to win anyway. What I care about is the sustainable long term future of the club as a force in English football.
i don’t agree its the end for the season. but you are entitled to your views and you could well be spot on. but its just form at present. but their are issues i have said all along under bruce and now smith. we are not good enough without the ball. its not always about pressing or dropping back. you are assigned a man and if you allow your man to run into your defence and you do not track him. that causes problems for our team. it commits your defenders to meet the free man and cause confusion. this could be organisation swapping of players down to injury.
another issue is decision making in games and managing games we are lacking in this also. but these are minor problems. in the leeds game we had a chance to take the point and not go chasing the win. thats game management. the preston game we had el gaza blast the ball over when tammy was waiting for a square pass and open goal. these little decisions making errors cost points
todays game will mean the team get back to hard work on the training pitch. will mean smith can tell the owners he needs to bring in players he needs now not summer. we will come back from this stronger if we can stop getting more injuries and get back some form
Smith will probably add strength to our defence this window but we could do with someone capable of covering for Grealish. It’s a big ask to expect O’Hare to come in and produce the goods just yet. There must be technically clever players we can afford. Hogan looks like he will never come good unfortunately. Fans need to be realistic right now. We are at best a top six championship team and without Grealish and Abraham probably a mid table team. Smith is the right manager but needs to bring players in that more suits his style. Kalinic won’t have enjoyed his debut and unbelievably fans are already criticising him. Unfortunately Villa fans and the word patience doesn’t go together.
We have been somewhat shite for years we all thought Smith would bring the good times back ,ok he has not brought his own players in but FFS swansea at home .We have the fans and tradition we will always be well supported but the fact is the team is average at best and we have no chance of going up this season we are Aston villa and have the right to be top 8 premier League but just cannot get any team to gel for fookin years .So pissed off tonight with football