Teasy

They're totally different players. Neither one is much better overall, but they certainly have very different strengths and weaknesses. Against a mobile quick strike force only one remotely fits the bill, and it isn't Williamson.

He can be ok against big slow strikers with no movement, but tonight we'll be facing the complete opposite of that.

He was a key part of the team that finished 5th to qualify for this competition so he's nowhere near as bad as reading this thread would have you believe! Hope the crowd in the ground are patient tonight mind - 0-0 after 70 with attacking subs to come on would be a decent position to be in IMO. Is "key part" a code phrase for weak link?

Clumbsy, slow, gives away penalties, turns like a tank.

We aren't playing Stoke like so IMO Perch would be a significant step up in this game.

That's what I thought like - Perch for Willo (not exactly a huge difference) and Marv playing probably the only real options. All very well saying we should go all out attack but lose an early goal or 2 and it's finished... There's a pretty decent difference between Williamson and Perch (especially against this opposition) and Marveaux has been our most creative player by far recently. So those two are pretty significant, even more so when you consider we were already missing several key players.

The one game where you think there's no way we can do anything but go for it, and he manages to find a way not to. I mean we need to win by two at least and we need the crowd behind us. So his plan is to spend 45 minutes worrying about Benfica and in turn frustrate our own fans into silence, he's like some kind of backwards genius.

"We need to win by two goals, so lets keep it tight for 45 minutes by playing Mike Williamson". Count the contradictions.

Now fans and pundits can spend more time analysing and complaining about the other incidents and not have to bother going through 100 replays of 10 different camera angles to decide whether the ball went over or not As for this changing people's perceptions on technology in the game. I think people who are already for technology will see this as a step in the right direction and see its success (if it is successful) as evidence that we should push it further. While people who are generally against technology in the game will accept this but want it to go no further.

Would have thought the other options would be better but I suppose I haven't tested any of them so..

As far as I remember Pardew said in his first statement a few days ago that scare tissue was present on the hamstring, but that the specialist says he's 100% fit to play.

It was 5th v 12th, not 17th so people can guess at the money we'll not get this season. Yeah, though Europa money will level that out to a degree, and we could yet finish above 12th (hopefully ) Europa operating costs could wipe this out. Is there any evidence to suggest that operating costs for European matches would negate the extra income?

It was 5th v 12th, not 17th so people can guess at the money we'll not get this season. Yeah, though Europa money will level that out to a degree, and we could yet finish above 12th (hopefully )

Load of rubbish, tbh. You're talking shit their like he's a classy player Yeah I man obvioisly he's class, but he's still a lazy twat. If he ran around like Lee Bowyer he wouldn't be able to make anything like the contribution he does. Not suggesting he should run around like a maniac, just with a bit more effort at times he could make even more of his talent, something he's got an amazing amount of. Think he could have done more at Manure if he was willing to work a bit harder, not complaining that he didn't though

Was about to say this in here, must be c*** to play alongside when it's not going his way. Huffy prick. Considering he's gone to playing with Rooney to playing with Sidwell i don't blame him tbh. Only has his self to blame for that like.

Load of rubbish, tbh. You're talking shit their like he's a classy player Yeah I man obvioisly he's class, but he's still a lazy twat.

Lazy Twat.

First time I've been happy that Remy scored. Definitely prefer a QPR win, keeps us 6 points ahead of the drop zone.

Four wins out of our last six home games. We've been shit this season but lets not go completely off the map here. I mean if you seriously believe we look like we wont win another game then stick a bet on for us to get relegated before tomorrows match. You can easily get 10/1, probably more. That might make sense if relegation was between only Villa and ourselves, but it isnt. Then again you're probably just taking the piss, I hope

We created more clear cut chances then Benfica, much more in fact, we even created most of their clear cut chances ourselves

Unfortunately for you we're going to win the Europa.

I don't think he will. His finishing looks superb, and his stint at QPR has only proven his ability. For all the likes of Gouffran are very tidy players, the difference is in the goals put in the back of the net. They're certainly different kinds of players but I think Gouffran very likely has more than we're seeing at the moment as far as goal scoring (we might see it if Pardew allows him to get near the opposition goal regularly). As far as Remy goes he's on a hot streak at the moment, but he's hardly proved enough to get a top contract elsewhere at this point. Then again if he continues scoring until the end of the season I'm sure some club or other will be stupid enough to offer him silly money again.

See the Premier League, La Liga... I think we'll get done 3 or 4-0 tonight, haven't got much hope. Er no, neither the Premier League or La Liga are comparable to the Portuguese league in that regard.

Do you believe otherwise ? Yeah, its extremely rare that 40 points is needed to stay up. EDIT: Misread his post, he meant 42 points, that total's only been required to stay up once.

I knew there were people who still thought we would probably stay up at that stage, I was one of them. I just didn't remember anyone thinking we were a dead cert to stay up at that stage, I mean we were in the bottom three with 7 games left, seems I was wrong looking back.. You reckon we need at least 40 points to stay up then?