Cronky

I don't know about McCormack, but it wouldn't be a bad idea to add an experienced striker to the squad. Our other options - Mitro, Toney, Armstrong, Ayoze - are to varying extents still picking up experience. The exception is Cisse, but I'm not sure he'd be motivated for the struggle ahead, and he certainly doesn't provide the leadership we need. Ayoze's form seemed to dip once he started getting linked with Spurs, and decided to make it public. He needs to recover his focus.

There’s no point in having him back now, but in his prime he was a good player. There was far too much other stuff going on for him to fulfil his talent though. It’s a bit of a cheek for him to blame others for the first relegation. If he hadn’t decided that taking out Alonso was more important than making himself available for our final three games, we might have stayed up. But that was Joey. Too full of himself.

Whatever happens, it's nice to see an England team that can actually pass the ball. The Premiership may be restricting the opportunities for young English players, but those that do make it are technically much more sound than their predecessors. The defence doesn't look great. It was a bit strange to watch England defenders beaten quite regularly at set pieces. The other factor is how easy it will be for players to get up to peak performances, mentally and physically, after the demands of the Premiership season. One or two players looked like they needed a rest.

The ref needs to get a grip. The Turks seem to be taking the attitude that they aren't likely to get booked in a friendly, and are chopping players down when they're beaten. It's like watching a game from the 60's. He's booked one player, but in a competitive game it would have been about five.

If you don't like Cisse it's not because of his grin so let's get rid of this stupid idea. Cisse grins all the time and he always has. Okay, I was being a bit facetious. He seems a bit wrapped up in himself and thinks he's a better player than he is. Somewhere he's absorbed this idea that it's all his useless team mates' fault for not providing him with gilt-edged chances. That amused expression that he carries around with him sums it all up somehow. Rafa has been able to get more effort out of him than Pardew and McClaren could manage, and latterly he seemed to be at least trying to be more of a team player. Still an irritant though. You know him personally like? No, I'm just clever.

If you don't like Cisse it's not because of his grin so let's get rid of this stupid idea. Cisse grins all the time and he always has. Okay, I was being a bit facetious. He seems a bit wrapped up in himself and thinks he's a better player than he is. Somewhere he's absorbed this idea that it's all his useless team mates' fault for not providing him with gilt-edged chances. That amused expression that he carries around with him sums it all up somehow. Rafa has been able to get more effort out of him than Pardew and McClaren could manage, and latterly he seemed to be at least trying to be more of a team player. Still an irritant though.

Of the ones who have made a reasonable number of appearances - Elliot 7 Darlow 6 Janmaat 6 Anita 5 Colo 4 Mbemba 7 Lascelles 8 Taylor 4 Dummett 6 Townsend 8 Colback 7 Tiote 6 Sissoko 6 Wijnaldum 5 Shelvey 4 Mitrovic 5 Cisse 5 Perez 6 The newcomers from last summer have all been disappointing. It's difficult for players to get used to playing in a different country, in a tougher league, in a team that's just been put together following a bad previous season, with a manager that's new to the club, and so one has to take all that into account. Mbemba looks to have turned the corner. I thought Gigi was a great buy, but I was expecting him to be in the anchor role in central midfield. Instead he got shunted all over the place, and he may be better off in a different league. He's only produced in flashes. Mitro still looks a bit slow for the Premiership, and we needed him to be a better finisher. He's missed some sitters that could have made all the difference. Thauvin never got going, of course.

I don't like Cisse and that silly grin of his.

Touche

Aye. Lined up to be new Bond I reckon. He'll be good in the bit where he falls out with his boss and goes off on his own.

Only three centre backs, unless I'm missing something. Can Dier fill in there if needed? Not that there's much in the way of good alternatives in that area anyway. An abundance of talent going forward, but I'm nervous about the defence. I've always been a big fan of Rooney, but it's a bit of a struggle fitting him in. He doesn't look sharp enough any more to be an out and out striker, and he's played quite well in midfield for Man U. But the competition in midfield is very fierce, and already one or two good players will be ending up on the bench.

Lots of things have gone wrong, but if I was to pinpoint one factor, it's the failure to spot the lack of leadership on the field, and particularly in the defence. This is a long standing problem which pre-dated McClaren. Successive managers have clearly rated him more highly than I do, so presumably I'm missing something, but I don't think I've ever seen the bloke actually talking on the pitch. On top of his particular weaknesses as a defender - lack of pace, problems in defending set pieces - the package doesn't look too great. Not long ago, he actually wanted to leave, but the club resisted it. That struck me as an error at the time. How are the other players supposed to look up to a captain that isn't committed?

Away fans should join in with Villa home fans and shout at the Villa players and/or club...give them the same stick. I don't think it works like that. It's like hearing someone slagging off a member of your family. You can do it, but when you hear someone else doing it, it's a different matter.

Our fans would be daft to try taking the piss. The Villa fans aren't exactly happy with their team, but away fans having a go is only going to encourage them to give their players some support. Just shut up and let Villa self-destruct.

I can't think of any individual or team in sport that has won from odds of 5000-1, or anything like. This is a unique achievement.

I think now Villa will be the more difficult game. Spurs will be pig sick and probably won't field a full strength side. Villa won't want to be humiliated by another team at the bottom in their last home game. And of course we'll be away from home. It's still an excellent chance to get two wins though.

dunno Clough taking forest up (in 3rd) then immediately winning the league and back to back European Cups is hard to overlook but still hell of an achievement The money involved now compared to then is gigantic though. Teams were able to do that back then. Derby, Villa, Everton, Leeds won the league and teams like QPR, Southampton, Ipswich and Watford finished 2nd. In the last 20 years it's never been any team other than Man United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Man City that has won it and the only other teams out of those that has finished 2nd is us and Liverpool. Not to mention that they only just escaped relegation last season, the line up hasn't changed massively, nor have they had money thrown at them. They've been top from start to finish and thoroughly deserve the title. It's absolute once in a lifetime stuff that seems completely fictional. Yeah, I never thought we'd see a club the size of Leicester win the League again. The gap between rich and poor had seemingly become too great.

It wasn't the greatest pen because it was too near the centre of the goal. Along with the keeper moving the right way, those are the most common reasons behind the missing of penalties. But there was nothing half-arsed about Darlow's attitude. There was that aggressive decisiveness in his movements which gave him every chance. That's what Benitez has given to the side.

I missed the first 20 minutes, which it seems weren't great, but from then on that's the best I've seen us perform this season. We played with aggression and decisiveness and I liked the way we kept looking positive right to the end. The escape is on. And please, Mitro, don't do anything daft.

Getting into a debate as to exactly what the right punishment should be would be a bit of a diversion. The point is that a 3 game touchline ban is setting the tariff way, way too low. There should be a significant deterrent to this form of cheating. It's all too easy. You could get someone in the crowd to throw a ball on, or invade the pitch. If this sort of thing catches on as a tactic that can be used as a desperate measure, the integrity of the game is under real pressure.

I've just seen this news about Simeone getting a 3 game touchline ban for instructing a ball-boy to throw a ball on to the pitch so that an opposition attack gets pulled up. He's been let off extremely lightly IMO. There's always been the danger that either someone in the crowd or on the touchline could do this, but thankfully the idea has never caught on. They need to stamp on this right away and make an example of Simeone. It's a disgrace. He should have had a ban for an entire season.

Real make such good passing angles to one another. It was worth watching just for the way they work the ball around. By the end, I thought there was quite a gap in class between the two sides.

It's still a struggle, but things are falling our way, there's no doubt about that. A home game against a team who is in the Cup Final and with nothing play for in the League is perfect. They won't be diving into any risky challenges and will have half a mind elsewhere. Next a team who are already down and playing with zero belief. Then a home game against a team who have nothing to play for, have faced the disappointment of missing out on the title, and where half the players will be conserving themselves for the Euros. We're dependent on other teams' results, but the chance is opening up.

Interesting stuff. The bloke strikes me as a reserved, perhaps even shy man. It's hard to imagine him joining in any laddish dressing room banter, so maybe he doesn't have the kind of people skills that other managers might have and can use with certain players. At the same time, he seems to be very objective in his thinking. He is strong as a tactician and makes judgements on what he sees in front of him, not on what he thinks he's going to see, or what others think is right. He's managed to sort out his best team and best tactics quite quickly.

I'll be amazed if we get two But I think that will be enough, as I really don't see why everyone thinks Sunderland are going to magically start winning games when they have 1 in 6 and that against Norwich. That said I still think we will go down as I don't believe we are capable of winning those two games. You think Sunderland get 4 points or less from there last 4 games? Not the strangest of ideas. They've been averaging a point a game so far.