Theregulars

I'm not a football manager, and having watched 10 minutes of the second half, my thoughts were: bring no somebody with pace, scare them shitless so they don't keep a high line and thereby don't allow them automatic pressure against us. By just bringing on more defensive midfielders, we sit deeper and deeper and deeper, but the token nod to a need to attack is Shola, who just isn't suitable for that situation. If you see them suddenly have three up front, drop in a secnod defensive midfielder to help out at the back by all means, but ensure that the team is still able to exert enough offensive force and craft to keep the other side guessing. All he did was see their good start to the second half (for 5 minutes or so, arguably out of his control, at best) and react by making substitutions which entrenched us in a defensive position and mindset. That was the perfect time for Obertan in my opinion; have someone who, when it goes forward, scares their children at the back nito realising that they don't have licence to camp in our half. Same with Reading, we haven't scored, it's 1-0, 20 minutes to go, better shut it down. But the foundation of our lead, being the ball-keeping ability of Marveaux and Cabaye, are suddenly gone, depriving us of the reason for our impetus and thus handing them the game on a platter. Those are just two examples, there are countless others this year of his tactical naivety. I'm not saying sack him, but I am saying there are clearly times he has been bailed out by having really good players. However, there are also clearly times when he has us playing good football. The furstration is his inability to see what is in front of him, learn from what it is that makes us play well and poorly, and then build the team around the playing well element. It's obstinance, stupidity or just plain ineptitude, none of which are good.

Indeed, like the wins we eked out over Norwich and QPR this year that sent us on big runs. I meant as in he seems to like grinding out a result after a hard run and then releases the shackles a bit. I don't think it's how he should go about stuff but that seems to be his usual style in these circumstances. As did I; he ground out a result in both those games, and then we lost another load more each time round.

Pipe down, you sensible trollope.

Me, Stu or the manager?

Indeed, like the wins we eked out over Norwich and QPR this year that sent us on big runs.

Shouldn't be asking for the ref to make a decision, also we know Dean isn't afraid to give away penalties. Dean shouldn't be giving penalties for non-fouls in the box. look at it in slo mo and it's iffy, in real time its a stonewaller and a stupid challenge. I suppose this is the wall for an issue which is subjective; for me it just isn't in a million years. Hey ho, we won, Dean's a dick whichever way round and Aston Villa are proper lemons.

Here in England is sounds more like a window being licked. You should get your tongue off that window then; there's a risk Lee Ryder's saliva is still on it.

Shouldn't be asking for the ref to make a decision, also we know Dean isn't afraid to give away penalties. Dean shouldn't be giving penalties for non-fouls in the box.

? Not at you, the illiterate one with his standard riposte. I'm sure there's a few things Pards isn't getting right but the way some people go about bashing him is a bit ridic. Pre-match: he'll f*** this up by starting Shola and Jonas Half-time: Villa have been really s*** (ignores team selection) Second-half: what the f*** are these tactics/subs (ignores the fact that Villa aren't as s***) Full-time: won in spite of him, he's w***, get him sacked. A lot of the criticisms are genuine and need to be addressed (one game with a 'squad' and a win) but there are people deliberately positioning themselves to give the players all of the credit and the manager all of the abuse to maintain their 'stance'. Haven't seem this much vitriol towards a winning manager for a long time. Seems odd. Somewhere in Australia, I hear the sound of a nail being hit on the head.

it was, then i stopped reading. Nope, it wasn't. Watch it again, you will see their player steps on Debuchy's foot and falls over. you'll also see debuchy's foot take a swing and the ball is nowhere near it, that will always be given. You will also again see that Debuchy sticks his foot out to get the ball, before he his able to do so, Agbonlohor (if him?) steps on his foot, then falls over, and is incorrectly awarded a penalty.

Injured. Pardew out

it was, then i stopped reading. Nope, it wasn't. Watch it again, you will see their player steps on Debuchy's foot and falls over.

As above but without the inability to quote stuff properly, Christ.

Clear penalty IMO, daft as f*** from Debuchy to try and go for that. And the crowd were already right behind them at that point tbh, they'd already opened us up a few times. Yes, but the longer they go without a goal, the quieter that din becomes, and the more the confidence drains.

Are you serious? The guy steps on Debuchy's foot and falls over. Watch it again.

Also, that was never, ever a penalty. He steps on Debuchy's foot and falls over man. They don't score that, they don't suddenly have the whole crowd behind them and I don't think they get the confidence. Also, I wouldn't say any of Krul's saves were out of this world, you would expect him to make all of them - the Weimann chance was a great save, others were good. Fuck Aston Villa.

Right, I've seen it now - I think a lot of it was Villa being energised by not playing ridiculously unsuitable tactics; but certainly we stood back more than we should have and then hit the panic button with the Shola substitution and it went horribly downhill from there, panic, no cohesion, and just lumping it forward again and again. However, we did tire incredibly quickly, which is alarming considering that we had 10 days between games...

Missed it. Break down what Pardew did?

He's rubbish man. Ah, right then. That's me told.

Seriously, Perch really isn't that bad. Perhaps with a debutant in central midfield it may pay off having a solid defensive midfielder if he struggles?

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m0dsmj5kQl1qcgem4o1_500.gif Yes, lamp too.

I like James Perch.

The announcement of it being Neesy's birthday means the Ginger Pirlo may be available on loan for the weekend.

My view on it remains the same; I have too much time for him to denounce his actions until I know what's really happened. I'm so glad he's staying but if it's something really horrendous then I wouldn't have begrudged him leaving. Just putting myself in similar shoes, I have to do 6 months abroad for work at some point, if my girlfriend/a family member was really ill I'd probably want to come home. BUT if it's just leveraging and he wants out, then I will lose respect for him. I don't think there's any other realistic and sensible way to look at the situation.

They desperately need a result. In that situation, we always oblige.