Villa match thread, sponsored by Ron Atkinson

[RoyalBlue]

That was poor tonight, very poor. Villa looked nervous and there for the taking in the first half. But a combination of three mistakes by the ref and Leigertwood giving the ball away handed the initiative to Villa and gave them the confidence to push on. Their goal was no surprise, it was always going to be settled by one, particularly after ALF's terrible miss.

McDermott has to get Leigertwood out of there. At his best he can be moderately effective in the PL but anything less than 100 per cent and he's a liability, and so it proved tonight.

If we go down this season, and it is looking very likely at the moment, the nagging feeling for me is that the problems we have now, ie personnel who don't look up to it, could have been predicted at the start of the season. The signings that have been made have not been integrated into the team quickly enough, or correctly, and we are basically playing our championship team. It hardly needs me to say that a championship team is not a premiership team.

So what do we do for the rest of the season. Standing still is not an option. Some imagination must be used to get the best out of the personnel that we have.

Our midfield provides little or any protection for the defence and particularly away from home we must play with someone in front of the back four, even Gunnarsson in that position would improve things. I would be tempted to bring back Pearce, contract dispute notwithstanding, and play Mariappa in front of the back four.

It looks bad now but some creative thinking in January might, just might, turn it around, but it seems a long way off.

Oh yes Pearce. Cut off your nose to spite your face - The Reading Way.

And replace LegsofWood with who?! We don't have alternatives! I wouldn't be surprised to see Mick Gooding turn up with his boots on Saturday!

Can't afford him!

[John Madejski's Wallet]

. RFC deserve to be in the Prem and deserve to stay in the Prem! We need a Manager who can do that,

Seriously, just f#cking f#ck off will you

[grey_squirrel]

. RFC deserve to be in the Prem and deserve to stay in the Prem! We need a Manager who can do that,

Seriously, just f#cking f#ck off will you

I actually did LOL at that!

[Rev Algenon Stickleback H]

The team can play a lot better than they are at the moment. It's a motivation/belief/confidence issue which is down, unfortunately, to the manager.

Disagree completely. The are really giving it 100% most games. They just aren't good enough, and I don't think any manager would be able to get much more out of them.

Brian managed get the team to eke out a ridiculous number of points from a lot of not that amazing performances last year, and it's just asking too much to repeat that against sharper opposition.

[holsgrove breaks a leg]

A loss is never easy to take, but today's meek showing serves only to highlight the complete lack of quality running through the team. Villa were, like Stoke on the opening day of the season there for the taking and looked like certain fellow relegation candidates. However when you have a central midfield pairing that constantly give away the ball or dribble their way into trouble how on earth can the likes of Alfie or Roberts benefit other than picking up punted scraps. Roberts should be applauded for the amount of donkey work he had to go through but that hardly should be the game plan should it! There was a total lack of cohesion between both right back/right wing and left back/left wing especially when we had any rare attacks,save a few booted crosses from Cummings when Jobi didnt have the skill to beat his man. Defensivly we were so so tonight, yet one mistake from the otherwise impressive Morrison and we come away from a huge game with nothing.

Granted the playing staff have their deficiencies, but i am starting to feel that Brian can only play one way with his current squad and its simply not going to be enough at the moment unless there is a freakish' lightbulb' moment. Therein lies my problem with Mcdermott's tactical weaknesses with our current squad, playing only one way and no belief in (in part due to no options he has in the squad) changing tactics before or during a game. Relegation may be a distinct possibility now, but to see out the season in a work horse like fashion without any ounce of flair or end result would be doubly galling. Do i think anyone else could do a better job than Mcdermott right now, probably not but the complete lack of quality and tactical nous shown on the pitch surely must have AZ's finger set on the trigger......

[Big Ern]

Relegation may be a distinct possibility now

Thats being rather kind. I would say relegation is a foregone conclusion and has been since our failure in the last transfer window.

[Libertine]

We could put Guthrie and Pog back in the starting 11 and it would not make one bit of difference.

Guthrie would complete passes to teammates just to see them either, (a) try to dribble through an opposition player at the halfway line and lose the ball, (b) pass the ball straight to the opposition or (c) hoof a long ball up which the opposition will easily deal with. And Pog is a player who is a target man. He needs to have the ball played to him at his feet, with him facing the net, and the service he has received so far has been in the air with his back to the net because of the hoofball style we play.

We don't have the skill, guile or speed to break down Premier League defenses. Our passing so far has been, to put it simply, completely atrocious. We have generally been very disorganized in the back. And we don't seem to have the mental toughness to see out games and get results when we are in a position to do so. We are very limited in our squad options due to a lack of depth.

But we work hard and, outside of the Tottenham game, have not been embarassed. But in the Premier League, unlike the Championship, you can't win games just because you outwork your opponents...in this league the cream always rises to the top. And the Premier League is still one of the best leagues in the world, with the creme de la creme.

[larry1971]

another late goal conceeded and another dissapointing result I don't think we deserved to lose but on the other hand we didn't deserve to win either as we simply didn't create enough shots on targe to test their keeper.

[soggy biscuit]

Relegation may be a distinct possibility now

Thats being rather kind. I would say relegation is a foregone conclusion.

There are 4 teams in our mini league, we are 4 points off of top spot with the best goal difference and the transfer window opening in a month.

[The Real Sandhurst Royal]

Libertine wrote: We could put Guthrie and Pog back in the starting 11 and it would not make one bit of difference.

Totally agree, the current players we have in the squad and style of football we play is not good enough at this level.

McDermott loyalty to the squad that got us promoted is our downfall he should have had a clear out and bought in better players with premier league experience.

The players he signed in the summer are no better than what we have already had in some case worse.

[Avon Royal]

The team can play a lot better than they are at the moment. It's a motivation/belief/confidence issue which is down, unfortunately, to the manager.

Disagree completely. The are really giving it 100% most games. They just aren't good enough, and I don't think any manager would be able to get much more out of them.

Brian managed get the team to eke out a ridiculous number of points from a lot of not that amazing performances last year, and it's just asking too much to repeat that against sharper opposition.

I still think that if we had played that Villa team in March we would have beaten them.

Anyway, I agree with your last paragraph - which is why it was obvious to everybody that we needed to strengthen more in the summer.

[paultheroyal]

I don't feel any better this morning with regards to what i witnessed last night!

[The Real Sandhurst Royal]

paultheroyal wrote: I don't feel any better this morning with regards to what i witnessed last night!

+ 1...It is depressing watching the set of headless chickens we call a team run around the pitch to create very little.

[paultheroyal]

paultheroyal wrote: I don't feel any better this morning with regards to what i witnessed last night!

+ 1...It is depressing watching the set of headless chickens we call a team run around the pitch to create very little.

What's worse is all the p1$$ taking that follows at work from numpties who ain't got a clue!