Laursen: We Weren't Good Enough

Martin Laursen has admitted our performance against Sunderland simply wasn't good enough.

I'm not sure we need to hear that to be honest, stating the obvious is all well and good but in this case it doesn't really add anything useful.

Anyway, speaking on the official site, Laursen admitted we weren't good enough, had few ideas and basically didn't get started in the game....again.

'I don't think we played well enough to get anything out of the game. It was so frustrating.

'We wanted to do better because we saw the Portsmouth result and realised everything was set up for us. We wanted to do well at home for the fans after the Middlesbrough game but we produced a performance that was just not good enough.

'This is the lowest feeling of the season. It wasn't just the result that has annoyed us but it was also the way we played. We couldn't pass the ball and we didn't have many ideas. We just couldn't get into a rhythm on the day.

'We need to improve against the lower teams here at Villa Park. When we have the ball, we need to produce something better than we did against Sunderland.'

We need to improve against the lower teams fullstop to be honest. Consistency, not playing for only 45 minutes in a match and so on has been a serious problem all season - amazing considering our disappointment currently that we have blown Europe.

If we had improved against the lower teams and took those extra points I would imagine we'd still all be 'over the moon'.

In a curious admission though, Laursen said the team won't train fully together before the Man U match because of international commitments.

'The manager will be very disappointed that his players are not able to put things right on the training field. It must be terrible for him, having to wait to the see the players once they are back from international duty.

'He would want the whole week to prepare for the Manchester United game but we'll only be getting back on Thursday. There won't be many training sessions before the match. The manager will be disappointed with that.'

Exactly how often do we train? We should be training right up to the day before the match given how we are playing.

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