'We can't turn it on and off' - Aston Villa manager Alex McLeish bemoans inconsistency despite spirited fight back against QPR

The Villains boss lamented a ‘pedestrian performance’ in the first-half of their match against the Rs after not being able to take all three points in the Premier League tie

2 Feb 2012 00:23:00

By Edward Tibbles

More On :  Aston Villa, QPR, Alex McLeish

Alex McLeish was left disappointed after a ‘pedestrian performance’ from his Aston Villa side, despite fighting back to draw 2-2 with QPR.

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First-half goals from Djibril Cisse and an own goal from Stephen Warnock saw McLeish’s side face an uphill challenge, but a Darren Bent goal on the stroke of half time was the start of a spirited comeback from the home side.

A solid performance in the second 45 minutes saw Charles N’Zogbia score to rescue a point, but McLeish was annoyed by the inconsistency his side displayed throughout the tie.

“First-half I couldn’t believe the performance. The goals were a joke but it was a pedestrian performance. Although we probably had more of the ball we never penetrated there was no running off the ball, no imagination, creation,” McLeish told the press.

“The goal before half-time gave us a wee injection. We spoke at half-time and we demanded that you play in the Villa jersey much quicker tempo especially in front of your home fans than we saw in the first-half and they responded so credit to them.

“I’d love to see us play the first-half like we play the second. We’ve got to be at it all the time, we can’t turn it on and off.

“We’ve got 10 internationals out there and I felt they have to be showing their international experience.

"We were unlucky not to get a penalty. Shaun Derry definitely has stopped the ball heading into the top corner."

The Scottish manager was full of praise for N’Zogbia, hoping that this performance will inspire him to ignite his so far below-par Aston Villa career following a summer move from Wigan.

“That was much better the finish from N’Zogbia. The performance was much more in keeping of what I’d expect from Charles and hopefully that kick starts his Villa career," he said.

"He’s had some good games but second-half tonight he was much more electric."

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England 1-0 Belgium, Netherlands 4-0 Northern Ireland - follow all the international action LIVE! ahead of Euro 2012
With countries across the continent gearing up for their final warm-up games ahead of Euro 2012, join us for all the action from Saturday's friendlies. Get in touch with us via Twitter with your reaction.

Hosted by Joe Doyle
19:59 BST
Unfortunately for Northern Ireland, they are trailing the Netherlands 4-0 at half-time. Looks like that one's all sewn up then.
19:54 BST
We're still getting plenty of Hazard chat on Twitter. A few are now saying that he's not worth the hype, others saying he was brilliant(!?) and others (which I agree with), saying he created much of his own hype. What do you think? Get involved!
19:46 BST
Joe Hart has also been giving his thoughts after the Belgium game: "It was a really tough game, a good run out. I thought we played well, [but] we were a little bit bitty at times.

"But, we came through. Obviously there were a lot of changes so it's good to get the result.

"Belgium are a very, very strong side who are going to be really good in the future. Vincent [Kompany] told me about them and said that they were coming good and I totally agree with him."
19:38 BST
Here's Roy Hodgson's reaction to the result and some injury chat: "I'm very pleased, it's been a hard week and we've used a lot of players. There was a lot of disruption in the second-half with substitutions – some forced upon us, some we wanted to do. But it's still a very good end to the week playing against a good Belgian team here. Arguably even stronger than the Norwegian team we played last week and I've got to be more than happy that we've come out with another victory."

"[Gary] Cahill I suppose is slightly more of a concern for me because it is a jaw injury. We're desperately hoping the CT scan doesn't show any fracture and it's just going to be a bruising situation, which will be bad enough, but won't stop him taking part in the tournament. As far as John's [Terry] concerned he felt his hamstring a little bit. Again it wasn't a major thing when he came off but we still need to scan it just to be 100 per cent sure."

Suffice to say, if Cahill has broken his jaw, he won't play any part in the tournament.
19:35 BST
And another point from today: Eden Hazard wasn't great. Don't think you can judge him on one performance though. What do you think? Is it just a case of too much hype around the Chelsea-bound Belgian?
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