Aston Villa 2 - Rapid Vienna 1

Disappointing. As soon as we went two goals up we seemed to just want to pass it back to the keeper every time. ultimately sloppiness at the back yet again cost us. Just feels like the whole of last seasons efforts in qualifying automatically have been wasted.

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Gutted for Ash, Milner, Carew and Cuellar in particular. They played their socks off. Gutted for Curtis Davies. Can't fault the players, Heskey excluded. 4-4-2 and Heskey as a starter is costing the Villa matches. It cost the club a place in the CL last season. For all you Believers who think that MON is the Messiah, think again. Don't think that because the side is now free to concentrate on the league, things will improve. As long as MON is playing 4-4-2 and Heskey, this club will slide down the table. Fulham is now a huge game for the club. UTV!!!

But we are *****E at home, so forget the Fulham game. When's the next away match?

God, 14 attempts they had. They should've won 5-2 on the night at least. RAPID VIENNA...at VILLA PARK?! We are a joke.

Well done Mike I guess you were right along you must be thrilled :-) We had the chances to win,should have at least drawn the match,ball is not being kept up front for long enough,gaping hole in midfield,think Petrov could have done better,Delph did well at times.Its not the end of the world,Everton didnt do to bad last season,we will probably have a better domestic season as a result of this as long as VP doesnt go into melt down on Sunday.

a week on sun vs blues! ****n great! mon wat a *****er!

If i was Reo Coker i would put in a transfer request and i dont think any Villa fan would blame him. btw Where was everybody when they scored .There was a couple of times they were lining up to take shots.

at least there wont be so many of those *****e sunday games.

VillaWillRiseAgain, couldn't agree more mate. Good effort from the boys, I reckon there were signs of improvement too, as for 4-4-2 and Heskey, well I've said many times on this site what I think about that, Heskey in particular. I was called a muppet by someone two or three weeks ago for saying WE MUST SELL HESKEY he is a distraction to MON and frankly a waste of space, I'm sure in another team he could do a fantastic job, in our team, in our squad he is nothing but a PASSENGER THAT WE CAN'T AFFORD. By the way I thought Delph looked good tonight. SELL HESKEY!

ok Heskey I can get over..... But why the F*** didnt he bring on gabby when we were 2-0 up and there was loads of space behind their defence.... Christ Carew nearly outran their defence when guzan made a long clearance..... Gabby is a great worker but inaffective when their are 10 men defending infront of him....

WE NEED A CREATIVE MIDFIELDER AND A GOAL SCORER FFS, FFS,FFS, FOOOORRRR FS!

i was their 2nyt and it wasnt a real bad performance and alcoollie gabby would have no impact at all against that defence, they where okay at the back, heskey was nowhere but the rest of the team did play alryt, for all those aswell who wanted us 2 go owt and concentrate on the leauge then u are all fools! we are not gonna achieve champions league this season so what are you expectingg?? another europe place if we are luckyy? and then throw it away again i mean wth is the point?? o'neil didnt do anything wrong tonight really we needed 2 goals so he started with 2 strikers which is reasonable maybe gabby should have started but owel. no need for boos 2nyt and all respects to the holte end who carried on cheering for villa!!

was there boos tonight?

yep, at the end

A few times We played the ball around at the back with nothing to play to. There wasn't anything on the bench either to add the kind of spark needed once Vienna got their goal. We lack imagination at times.

1 step fwd 2 steps back..another dissapointing game, the effort was there but once again I thought we looked lightweight when we lost the ball & always looked like conceding....been very dissapointed with the transfer window, 1 CB in as davies goes off injured so no cover again, still no real creativity in the middle of the park, and still think we need another forward...heskey not gonna score many, and would not want to rely purely on gabby & carew all season for various reasons...I personally think goin out is better for us in the long run this season although I do want european football at the villa, but with a squad that is no stronger than last year I do worry if we would of been able to cope again...well here's to cheering the boys on for 3 points on sunday,,,from a slightly flat villa fan...up the villa

p.villa - MON didn't do anything wrong tonight? How about 4-4-2 and Heskey?

By the way Mr Fear, can we please stop Heskey’s family from voting on the poll? Unbelievably as I write 2% think he was MotM!! Surely it’s his family members, it can’t be Villa fans can it? Please God!

It's now 5% How f****** big is his family????!!! Deluded Tw**s!!

PK a favour for tonight, tomorrow I'll banter - tonight let's leave things be because I'm not the happiest and for the record no I'm not ******** thrilled..

As for the rest of your post, yes Petrov was rarely at the races but at least he tried. 442 was all wrong, our only outlet was again ball quickly to Ash. We were overrun in midfield and whilst Delph again showed he has all the potential necessary we needed the experience of Sidwell and/or Coker to steady the ship. Heskey was a lump of pointless lard so taking him off and adding a midfielder would have been no great loss upfront. It seems what we learnt against Liverpool was again ignored by the man who blames fans for our failings.

Heskey is crap but so is gabby, so it wouldn't have made a differance who played up front with Carew. We really need a new forward.

if we had of gone 4-5-1 and went out everyone would have gone mad that we only put 1 man upfront.

26.05.82 we needed 2 goals you fool! the only mistake was playing heskey yes but alot of people need 2 get off his back its not like he wanted us out of europe this season its the only thing we wud have done well in! o'neil cant be blamed for anything and seems like 26.05.82 is 1 of the fans getting on o'neils back and gonna drive him out and then villa would always be a small time club achieving nothing at all!! he has made mistakes in the transfer window and playing 442 yes and i have been getting on his also but without him we would be nothing and wouldnt have finished 6th twice in 2 seasons!!

PK considering we needed to pack the midfield (bearing in mind Heskey played no part in either of the goals) would 451 one made any difference other than protecting our defence? No it wouldn't, Heskey was a non entity all match, at least an extra midfielder would've helped.

p.villa - with the greatest of respect pay attention to your club before you say Monny is blameless.PMSL Monny has achieved nothing previous managers haven't, what 3rd season he got us 6th again after we threw 4th place through his stubborness, if I give you that one I have to point out all the other managers who got us 6th were then never backed in their 3rd season. Take a look at the history before you fall for the PR son. Now you see this is a sensible point that will aide you, because I disagree with you. It's not that difficult to not insult other posters is it. Then again you think Monny is the be all and end of Villa so why do I bother.

I think we are all being a little harsh on MO'N, he obviously doesn't have that much money to work with and unlike other managers has the decency (for Lerner's sake) not to come out an crap on about it in the media. Some of his signings may seem a bit weird and he doesn't like to sign big names from overseas for a couple of reasons i think, for one you know exactly what you are getting from players with Premiership experiance, secondly, players from overseas inconsistantly turn out to be any good. So i think it is another example of MO'N ensuring he doesn't waste money, or too much money at least. I think MO'N has to be judged on his results, we had 2 6th place finishes and if we didn't lose Laursen last year i think we would have had a champions League spot. He took a bit of a risk last year by not playing players in europe and it didn't work out but i think it was still the right move, because it really looked like a CL spot was achievable. Fans are always on here saying he should do this and that but you can't really argue with what he has done at VP. I always want him to change the tactics or play differant players and he doesn't but i dont think he deseves to be sacked or booed because his results so far speaks for itself. Futhermore, i really don't think there is anyone out there, that we would be able to get at the moment, that is any better so i think you all need to calm down a bit and support the team and the manager.

First time i,ve actually posted but been to the match and apart from Heskey the big problem came after our second goal. Rapid were always going to have a go after that and MON should have took off Heskey and Delph got Reo abd Sidwell. This would have stopped them playing through us and we would probably have got them on the break like on Monday Asshes Villans

liamo1981 that was the most common sense post I have read in months.

liamo1981 that was the most common sense post I have read in months.

Reo Coker and Delph could be good together,Delph did seem to grow in confidence tonight,

btw liamo1981 and pking glad some people are positive!

p.villa – yep I knew we needed two goals, despite your assertion, I worked that out for myself! Why should I get off Heskey’s back? I never shout him down on match days. I make my points on this site, I think it’s plain to see he is sh**e. Of course no one wanted us to go out of Europe, I’m not sure what you’re driving at there fella? As for MON you may have read in my previous posts that I think he is the man for Villa, I’m not calling for his head, I am however concerned that it is becoming increasingly evident that his stubborn idealistic principles and loyalty to certain players and types of player are potentially to the detriment of our great club. I think this is a bone-fide point!? You’ve clearly identified the mistakes made by him in your recent post, how long do you wait before you query those decisions/mistakes? For now MON is the right man for Villa, for now though, things need to improve, I’d give him 6.5 out of 10 maybe 7 at a stretch, we need 8 or 9 out of 10 – at least. By the way I respect your opinion and do not think you’re a fool, although, perhaps a little misguided – just in my opinion you understand.

Can I also add that I agree Delph showed some potential tonight.

I gotta say im proud of Villa tonight, and don't blame the players or O'neill for us going out. I was sitting in the holte end and cheered along with every1 else at the end to drown out the boos which weren't needed after a decent performance. I felt we should have started the same squad from the liverpool game with Carew instead of Gabby. Im not a fan of Heskey at all, but its hard to slag him off coz he isnt bad at what he does. But what he does is what we dont need. UTV and lets crack on and try for a decent cup run.

p.villa - a little harsh, calm down, I've read this site for years and posted for a about a year, it's a cracking forum for debate, with, as the editors put it, 'Opti's & Negi's', overall it's pretty balanced, I'd strongly recommend you read the debates and forums in detail before jumping to conclusions or insulting people just because they don't agree with your point of view - such as me!

FFS 7% to Heskey on the poll - did they watch the match???????????????????????????

Oh please - I'm going to bed Heskey is up to 9 f****** % for MotM!!!!! Sarcasm - I assume! Still bugs me though, the rattle's just been thrown out of the pram!

Liamo - if he doesn't have the money, he's done a good job of wasting it then hasn't he. Look at the signings, even this season. You can't say he doesn't want to waste money by trying untested talent abroad then the cross that with over £10 mil for Downing who's crocked, over £6 mil for Delph who has never played at the top level previously. A talented foreign player has just as much chance as Delph or making it in all reality. Yes they are gambles, but wasn't Harewood, Maloney, Routledge, Knight as it now turns out, Salifou etc.

p.villa, why bother wasting your time on a negative and disgusting site then? Surely that makes you the fool, at least the rest of us are prepared to debate points such as it's cause I support the club I'm annoyed tonight, you however just want to attack fans because you think Monny is the best we can do because the PR says so? Speaks to you, not me but sadly I'm getting the impression that's not the first time you've been told that in the last few days.

why the hell isn't a Champions League place awarded to the winners of this Europa League? instead of champions league places given to teams say from the likes of the Faroe Islands and San Marino - then there would be teams who'd actually want to win it. does anyone know if uefa have discussed this? the intertoto cup existed purely for the purpose of its winners being awarded eufa cup football, as far as i can tell. ... then we'd actually be gutted about having been knocked out this evening.

Any credit that was going tonight lies with the players (Heskey excepted of course). All the blame has to be with the manager, who is seriously letting his own players down. You could even argue he's letting Heskey down by exposing him to ridicule every time he is piacked. We have dome good players, but the team is set up so amateurishly. It seems that O'Neill's thinking was that we need to score two goals to go through, we need to attack, so we'll just bung another lad up front. I'm sorry, but that kind of thinking is completely childish. We would be more attacking AND stronger defensively by playing 4-3-3 with Young and Milner as wide forwards. With 4-4-2, we are less cohesive, and so less effective going forward, and the centre of our defense is exposed again. The problem, and the solution, is so obvious, and yet O'Neill can't see it. He is simply not fit for purpose.

Mike_field don't be jealous that mon is doing a better job in real life than you at home on pro evo.

w1villa - you've just put a smile back on my face mate...thank you! ps I don't play pro evo, I'm a Fifa Manager kind of guy! lol

im ashamed your a villa fan now Mike_F

P.S.....any good taks on Fifa manager??? only kiddin im a god ;)

mike_field A fifa man its music to my ears , you and i both know that the best way to improve players is to start them , so Heskey should be better than yesterday, that should be of some comfort to you . Goodnight sleep well and hope you dream of MON lifiting the FA cup

Astonian - It's In The Game Son!!!!!!

w1villa - I agree, until it becomes starting players who have a history of offering nothing to you lol Have a goodun (despite the other thread!) and yeah I do, I just want us to succeed. I want my club to be the best it can - I'm getting tired of saying that but I criticise because I want more. Simples.

Mike_Field, well it seems like you are just completly inpatient and fickle as DO'L would put it because you don't want to give any of our new signings a chance either and have already decided that they are no good. Downing hasn't even played a game for us and I think Delph will be a good signing, but i never said that it was a hard and fast rule that he only signs players with Prem experiance. Alll of the other players you mention where never supposed to be players that were going to be starting every week rather, they were supposed to be squad players. Harewood a third choise forward, Knight a 4th choice CB, Salifou and Routledge backup players and maybe decent players if they had of improved (not that they did). Every team in the premiership makes those types of signings that never work out and a lot of the time they never work out but i think Kight and Harewood did good jobs for what they were signed for. What about the rest of his signings, Carew, A Young, L Young, Petrov, Davies, Reo Coker, Sidwell They are all decent players that do a good job, some i'd say have been brilliant signings i.e. both youngs, Carew, even Petrov. What is annoying is that he didn't sign a forward for 15m instead of Harewood or a 15m pound defender instead of Zat Knight etc etc. Do you think he would of if he could? I think so! is that what we all wanted? Yes and where we disapointed when he didn't? yes. The frustrating thing about supporting Villa is that they don't let us know about anything that is going on in the background re: transfers. We could have made bids or at least enquired about Huntaaler, Schnieder and a whole bunch of other players that we don't know about, and when we don't hear about these enquiries or bids it seems like we have no ambition. But its not MO'N fault its the board decision to do their business like that, and we can't really complain about the board because they are a far cry from Doug. So i will say it again, you and others (i.e. Vital Villan) need to calm down give the team a chance and support them and the manager. PS. I think you need to read what i wrote again in my other comments because i never said that anyone was negative or disgusting. Also i have no problem with debating the team tactics or commenting about players performances but i just don't agree that MO"N needs to be sacked and i definatley don't think the team and/or MO"N should be booed.

Liamo are you serious? I say wasted and quote Downing who won't be ready for a few weeks yet cost us £11 odd million....I make that reference in terms of people saying there isn't money to spend? Right, breath mate....it's money wasted because this playing cannot affect our season start. It's money wasted in a humourous manner because he's crocked until Xmas. At what point did I say Downing was not a talented player?

When you work that out, I'll respond to the rest of the lecture because you obviously haven't understood where I was coming from.

I'll reply in the morning, but to make life simple if we have no money I just pointed out the money we spent. Given we need to replace Laursen and Barry I used the word sarcastically 'wasted' - to point out we have money. I'm unsure where I labelled players signed useless and wrote them off. You obviously think I did and you decided to try and insult on the back of it. Bully for you. Hope you sleep well.

ps I am Vital Villan.....Monny has had four years and he still hasn't built a team, don't preach to me about giving him chance and if you want to be a child and talk about Wesley, I think you'll find no fan in their right mind expects a player like that to join our dressing room. I've certainly never said so, and you also need to realise not all posts are aimed at you. Join the board the mate, and get involved there. On the forum things are clearer because you don't get those who post for effect getting in the middle of a conversation because I'm getting the feeling you think I've typed things at you, when in fact they were meant for others?

Other than that, learn your history about our manager. He controls the roost, don't blame the board for his failings, the only thing you can blame Randy for is believing Monny will make the right decision. Outside of that, signings, prospects, are all Monny. It's the only way he works and he tells it proudly. So just now he's at the Villa and we are so used to blaming a Chairman for a managers failings - you can't now. The buck starts, stops and has a middle with Monny. Don't bring Randy into it because if you think Randy had a say would we have signed Knight for £4.5 mil, Harewood for £3.5 mil, wasted £3.5 million on Maloney, Routeldge and Salifou. How much for England's greatest non scoring striker? £6.5 for Petrov Monny's mate?

I often feel like I'm talking to those who screamed Doug kept us in the black. I give in. I expect better, especially after £90 million....others don't. my opinion's no better than others, I just guess I want more for my club. Goodnight all.

The better team won over the 2 legs which is pretty scary tbh, they had more shape,balance and technique and we were quite lucky to be 2 up. Thought Delph was a big positive but as soon as teams were announced i knew we`d be overrun in midfield as most European teams will play a 5 in there,made it difficult for Petrov/Delph to dictate the pace and the ball inevitably was left wth Davies or Cuellar which just isn`t our game. Strange team selection and we just don`t look good enough at home once again,we just aren`t good having to create ourselves.

Over reaction, yes we r disapointed but this may well be a blessing in disguise, dont get me wrong im gutted we r out, although moans about mon are unreal, we have won 2 and lost 2.

Domestic season? Isn't the whole point of doing well in the league to finish in a european spot? Then we go out first hurdle. So we might aswell have finished 10th FFS. Gutted.

OMG We're all doooooooomed. We lose to Wigan - sack MON he's rubbish, get him out. We beat Liverpool - he's the Messiah, we're gonna win the league. Now we beat Vienna, but go out on the away goal rule and it's all sack MON again he's rubbish. Fickle, fickle, fickle.

Well said DoLpHiNaToR

I think that after any dissapointing result (or even good result), every fan has a right to an opinion. I stand on the side of the fence that says last night defeat has to lay at the door of MON. We can debate all day long about the quality of signings however, good players can become useless after a move and bad players good so signings will always be a hit on miss argument. The facts regarding last nights match (and others before it) is MON's inability/unwinglingness to adapt our team. What i mean by this is, MON has the right to put out any bloody team he sees fit, whether for opposition strengths/weekness, our players ability against certain opposition or squad rotation, however he should be a little quicker of the mark when he sees that things need a change. Ok he may of wanted 2 big guys upfront to keep the defence occupied while the wide men did their thing, thats fine. but when something needs changing, leave your ego aside and make the F*****G changes. Its already been said above that Heskey for Gabby should of happened earlier, as Heskeys innefectiveness was evident early on. Delph had a decent game and showed some good signs, however at 2-0 up putting on NRC for Delph to steal up the Midfield would of helped (i believe without reducing our own attacking threat), or for Heskey having not already brought him off. Also, am i wrong in thinking that Heskey was bright in a cover for JC and not to play along side him. MON is supposed to favour the big man/little man front 2 right?, wasn't last night going against his own principals in this respect. Having to big guys jumping for knock downs to who? I also still can't figure out whether Friedel was injured last night? Bit to much at stake for Guzan? He looked a little nervous, especially when balls we're being shielded towards him by the defenders (at one point Cuellar was screamin for him to come and collect and ball and he didn't move of his line so it needed a boot out for a corner), this is by the by as he's got bags of potential but I s**t myself when its near him and Cuellar, who had a great game, looked of the same opinion.

We still won the game, ashame we had a deficit to try to claw back but the players out there gave 110% at doing the task they was asked to do. We need more goals, lets see what the next 4 days brings.

I agree Villian1 but i cant stand all this doom and gloom if we finish 6th and win a cup id be delighted and mon certainly deserves the season as we have made steady progress over the last 3 years, look where we were before mon and Randy.

I don't think anyone thought we were going to win the league after beating Scumpool. Yes it was nice, but those of us who remained realistic knew it was probably a one off. Essentially it boils down to this: we're ***** at home and good away.

The progress from both Randy and MON has fantastic, all improvements including two 6th place finishes we were only dreaming of before they came, I am not one who is calling for MON's head. I am just voiceing my concerns that he could be a little quicker of the mark to adapt. This is not negativity, I don't like the doom and gloom also, however glossing over the cracks doesn't make them go away.

The progress from both Randy and MON has fantastic, all improvements including two 6th place finishes we were only dreaming of before they came, I am not one who is calling for MON's head. I am just voiceing my concerns that he could be a little quicker of the mark to adapt. This is not negativity, I don't like the doom and gloom also, however glossing over the cracks doesn't make them go away.

i was going to come on and argue the points but instead i'l just say we didnt deserve to get boo'ed off at full time if that is true. 6th and a domestic cup please

I think the boos were pretty limited and it was great because they were quickly answered by a chorus of Aston Villa fc by those who don't do the booing. Think this needs to be the new trend, answer the boos with a rousing rendition of a Villa song...

ive just fort actualy didnt o'leary say our fans was fickle? :O the man has got something right theirr. fickle fickle ficklee!!

part of post as above edited, answers to it removed for obvious reasons (repeating the post that was removed).. There is a limit folks, lets keep things decent.

fed up of reading that DOL quote used to beat fans up, of course fans are up and down, that isn't just Villa fans, football itself is up and down and fickle, as are fans, players, refs and pundits.

Ok again i think you have wrongly read in to what i have written beacause i never intended to insult or bully you, Further i don't think sarcasim works very well on forums or in text messages so i apologise if i didn't pick it up. Ok i read what you wrote again and i see that the second half wasn't intended for me, my mistake. now back to the debate. re: downing,your view is one way of looking at it, a fairly pessimistic way at looking at it i feel, the other wy to look at it, and i feel the quite logical way, was that he was bought as a long term investment. I'm sure he was not signed on a one year contract, and no doubt his value probably reflected the fact he was injured. Look to be quite honest i agree with you on a lot of points that you make to a certain extent re: signings and tactics. I have never been really excited about many of the signings that he has made, i hate the fact that he never changes the team, he plays the same style every week relentlessly going through Ashley Young, never makes any subs and sticks to his favourites. During the Rapid game i was thinking the exact same thing as every other villa fan, take Heskey off and bring Reo-Coker on. Now for the point that i have been trying to make. Despite all of MO'Ns shortcomings he has produced good results and the team has improved without a doubt, we have struggled in the domestic cups which i have been willing to except because we have done well in the league

oops, wasn't finished'

Liamo - cool I think we get each other now mate. I was only answering re Downing, the fact we have no money. I personally don't think he's better Barry (which is the age old England left side Barry/Downing debate) BUT I'm glad we got him. Personally I think his signing should see Young move more into the middle, as a free role and I can see the benefit. Not least that like the second half of last season we had no options to replace Ash and give him the kick up the backside he needed. I'm not against the signing - I was simply commenting on the train of thought that we had no money and given we need to replace Laursen especially, if money is tight £11 million on Downing is a waste IF it left us unable to replace Laursen. That was all I was saying chap.

Seems both of us crossed wires on that one sadly.

But quite what I'm to make of your 'oops, wasn't finished' I don't know lol Can I reserve the right to disagree just to keep the ball rolling lol

my bloody computer shutdown when i was typing the last bit. But what i was getting at is that i think o'neill deserves until the end of the season at least. and i have been disapointed at how quickly everyone has had a go at him. My Theory is that a lot of it has to do with the fans not knowing what is going on in the transfer market. i think if we knew what was going on we would be a lot more at ease that we were showing ambition (from last post Schnieder & Huntalaar were examples maybe should have used Bentley or Jenas). i think we are in dire need of a forward that scores goals a creative midfielder and a few defenders. I hope Delph and Downing are not supposed to be barry's replacement, but if they are i am willing to give him a chance to prove it because i think its the least MO'N deserves it. I wish he would sign a decent forward (but i doubt he will). PS. I am not willing to agree to disagree on this, you have to agree with me because i am right. lol

further i don't think Barry is as big a lost as people are making out, i thought we needed more running in midfield last year and that petrov and barry were not the best combination. I think reo or sidders can provide that running but obviously lack the technique Barry has. We are stuggleing because Laursen was the heart and soul of our team and is irreplaceable.