[Archived] The 2-1 Villa Preview Thread

[Hughesy]

Not really... two midfielders scored the goals

[T4E]

SO THAT MAKES IT OK TO LOSE?

To be fair I'm pretty sure that's not what Matt was saying. He was just angry at how we always lose vs Villa, which is a fair point.

[BuckyRover]

It does boil down to the fact that it is Ince's fault we lost, because the manager is ultimately responsible.

But it is also to his credit that we scored right at the death of the Everton and Boro games.

We are just missing something, a little bit of confidence in front of goal. I am sure that will come in time.

[Hughesy]

Pathetic attitude, isn't it? The same one used against West Ham, and also before we played Newcastle. It's turning the fans into a joke. We're just accepting defeat now.

What do you suggest us fans do? See the positives or just see all the negatives? Should we get some signs made up and maybe stage a protest like Newcastle & Tottenham fans do?

[ABBEY]

To be fair I'm pretty sure that's not what Matt was saying. He was just angry at how we always lose vs Villa, which is a fair point.

In that case apologies to matt....im just annoyed at losing and people think its acceptable because we palyed well.

[tchocky]

Stoke, Middlesbrough and Fulham are all winning as well.

This is a terrible night for us. Whilst I wouldn't say we're in a 'scrap', we're certainly part of a cluster of 6 or 7 teams that could go down.

*Uninspired mode commenced*

The way the table is shaping up now, the top 6 is pretty much the same 6 that will be thereabouts at the end of the season (swap Hull for someone else, probably Man City).

Below that though, we're in a big pool of hard to seperate teams that are all fighting for the scraps (ulterior motive being to basically stay in the division). I'd say that currently only Bolton and WBA are looking more likely than most to really struggle, while the teams in the positions 7 to 18 might almost just as well be decided by the lottery.

Cheers,

Nostradamus

[Amo]

What do you suggest us fans do? See the positives or just see all the negatives? Should we get some signs made up and maybe stage a protest like Newcastle & Tottenham fans do?

There's being positive, and there's being defeatist. Too many fans on here are too quick to overlook results because they expected us to lose anyway. Probably some kind of self-defence mechanism, but it's depressing and undermines the team and its aspirations.

[Rovermatt]

SO THAT MAKES IT OK TO LOSE?

What are you talking about?

My point is a simple observation. We consistently underperform against Villa. They're too fast and too powerful for us. I'm not suggesting that we should accept that, it's just a fact.

[BuckyRover]

There's being positive, and there's being defeatist. Too many fans on here are too quick to overlook results because they expected us to lose anyway. Probably some kind of self-defence mechanism, but it's depressing and undermines the team and its aspirations.

I am not accepting defeat. I looked at the fixture and thought "we could win, but in all probability we won't".

Then when we lost I was unhappy, but the fact that we did very well is a good sign. You have to take the positives from situations otherwise life is not very pleasant. It is not burying my head in the sand, it is recognising that sometimes you lose because you are a bad team and other times because you were unlucky.

We were unlucky tonight.

I still believe Ince will be very unhappy with the defeat and I believe we will beat West Brom. Hopefully we can slot a few goals past them and build our confidence up.

[AggyBlue]

There's being positive, and there's being defeatist. Too many fans on here are too quick to overlook results because they expected us to lose anyway. Probably some kind of self-defence mechanism, but it's depressing and undermines the team and its aspirations.

I'm going to have to re-read your posts because you seem to have come across as being negative all evening

[Walls]

I haven't read the thread as I'm just back from the game but we did not deserve to lose that match. Villa came out flying and for the 1st 5 mins we didn't have a kick. After that we dominated the 1st half with neat and tidy passing and our goal was a brilliant team goal scored by the fantastic Warnock. Villa equalized with the jamiest goal which was practically the last kick of the half. To be fair, Villa looked better in the 2nd half when Carew was on but every time somebody tried to tackle him the ref gave a free kick. Milner did well for Villas 2nd but perhaps could have been stopped but their 3rd was a goal on the break which really was to be expected as we were pressing for an equalizer (although I think Tugay made a hash of a pass and gave it straight to them). We restricted Villa to few chances and I thought defended well on the whole. I would guess we had more shots than them as well. On the negative side I have just seen the table and we need a few results quickly before we get dragged into a relegation scrap.

I thought 10 of our players played well but Pedersen was absolutely @#/?. People say we need a right winger but Emerton is doing OK - I think its more important we get somebody for the left.

Overall I was happy with the performance, the stewarding was way over the top and we were very unlucky to lose.

[Rovermatt]

There's being positive, and there's being defeatist. Too many fans on here are too quick to overlook results because they expected us to lose anyway. Probably some kind of self-defence mechanism, but it's depressing and undermines the team and its aspirations.

The club is undermining its own aspirations in many respects. The hiring of unproven lower league managers and the sale of your better players (without replacing them) does not send out the right signals. Why should fans get excited about a club so clearly lacking in ambition?

[Amo]

Depends whether you consider playing well and losing a good sign? Surely it's actually a negative one. I mean, if you play badly and lose, you have the impetus to play better and improve your results. But if you're playing well but giving goals away, then it can be demoralizing.

I'm not happy we lost a game we should have won. If that doesn't make me a fan, then I'm in the wrong game.

[Hughesy]

He hasnt hidden anything in what he said, he said it exactly as it is - go on, pull him to pieces for something he has said

Blackburn manager Paul Ince:

"We were comfortable in the first 45 minutes. We got the goal and never looked in any danger. Then we conceded a fortuitous goal from Villa's point of view.

"We had chance after chance in the first half and the second. We are playing some good stuff and the lads have shown they can come to places like Villa and control the game.

"I am encouraged, but try telling that to my players when they've lost the game. We feel we've dropped points against Bolton, Middlesbrough and Villa, and we can't keep doing that."

[AggyBlue]

I'm not happy we lost a game we should have won. If that doesn't make me a fan, then I'm in the wrong game.

You haven't even seen it.

Without seeing the game makes your opinions on the game worthless.

Toodle pip.

[RibbleValleyRover]

You haven't even seen it.

Without seeing the game makes your opinions on the game worthless.

Toodle pip.

I listened to the game on the radio and it was pretty clear that we were the better side on the night. I also checked some of the Villa boards to see what their opinion was, not suprisingly the vast majority said they were lucky and didn't deserve to win the game.

We lost because we threw the game away especially just before half-time when we sat back and let them score.

[DP]

Good point Matt.

There are many teams in the league with form on par with Rovers. Teams beating each other left right and centre. 2 winning games followed by 2 straight defeats. I see Boro (a far inferior team to Villa) beat the mighty Man City tonight. And when was the last time West Ham or Pompey won? Fulham though, unbeaten in 3? Wigan have looked great but just lost 3 in a row. Should Steve Bruce be sacked?

It's going to be a long hard season but making rash decisions now about the manager would be crazy.

[only2garners]

Disappointing and thats 4 on the trot where we havent won. When was the last time we were on such a run? Cant recall to be honest.

Err... end of last season - 29th March to 19th April.

[T4E]

I've now seen all of the goals.

Great move for Warnocks, great free kick by Emerton.

Appalling defending for all 3 Villa goals. We actually left Agbonlahor totally unmarked on his own but just inside his own half. What sort of defence holds a line in the oppositions half?! Absolute madness. We deserved to lose for that alone.

[Tom]

Just watching MOTD now, wow warnocks was a stunning move

[Anti-Dingle-Brigade]

Warnocks was a brilliant move. Benni was amazing.

Pedersen was unlucky not to score a beaut of a volley.

Emerton needs to take more free kicks!

[RibbleValleyRover]

Just seen the highlights myself on MOTD, absolutley shocking defending by us on all three goals.

[LeChuck]

Just watching MOTD now, wow warnocks was a stunning move

It was, that's the best team goal I've seen us score for a long time.

Conversely, it's also the worst I've seen us defend for a long time. All three were terrible. Samba was at fault for two, Ooijer the other.

[Anti-Dingle-Brigade]

I think blaming Samba for the third is harsh. Even if he was 5 yards further back he'd probably have still been beaten by raw pace.

[BuckyRover]

Agbonlahor will do that to many a defender when the opposition is chasing the game.