TRon

Might find himself playing RB the way things are going.

Someone get a gun and pump a few rounds into Mourinho. That should safeguard our future targets for the time being.

That's a body blow. Chelsea have been have been chasing our coat-tails right through the close season. If it's not players it's Sam's backroom staff.

Yes, yes i can. Can't we all, as football fans? As for Carr, an AVERAGE right back would be far better. If you are saying that is a difficult task for a competent manager to find, and buy, a better right back than Stephen Carr, you are either as mad as a particularly crazed scotsman, or Stephen Carrs mam. I see buying an AVERAGE right-back as a pointless waste of money though. i don't. We're an average club, so average players should be our minimum. We currenly have a s**** right back. That, simply put, cannot continue. Weren't you whining in another thread about Geremi playing in the middle? If you are happy with an average RB, what was your problem with Geremi assuming you don't think he's utter shit?

He did, my only concern is that as either a secondary striker, or an attacking midfielder he needs to be scoring a few goals. At the moment he's not even getting on the end of any chances, but it's early days yet.

I beg to differ. Ameobi offers people like yourself the opportunity to vent their frustrations about a Newcastle player, so really you should be thankful he's still here. Gives you something to rant about tbh.

I would trust Mike Ashley to make far better decisions than a thick local pie-eater made good. Other than that, the question is too broad to merit me clicking a vote either way.

We might have defended well in theory, but when you build a team of 5ft tiddlers, there's always the chance you'll get spanked by 5 by a bunch of Championship bruisers in the cup. The squad that Glen built wasn't the best thought out in reality.

Personally I couldn't be happier with his efforts so far. Has remained cool, calm and collected and is a very presentable figurehead for our club. What has pleased me so far has been his care not to talk big then produce F-all in the way of 'pleasant surprises'. In contrast, he has damped down expectations then really has produced some pleasant surprises! Very impressed so far.

We won 3-1 last season Are you just pointing that out needlessly or do you think there is a some significance in that single result?

Barcelona? 8) Not quite but you are getting closer...

How could anyone begrudge him being top scorer after planting that one against the mackems?

Jol is building an unbalanced side much like we've done over the years. Heaps of options going forward, pretty threadbare defensive cover. Where have we seen that before?

My opinion on things, too. We were crying out for at least one of Barton/Emre on Saturday, in place of Butt first and foremost. i thought Butt was better than Geremi. Think you've missed the point a bit here, was referring to the fact that it was a home game against opposition that we should be beating and so it might make sense to take out the midfielder who offers the least going forward, i.e. Nicky Butt. As for the comment itself, Butt did a few more sliding tackles than Geremi, but his passing was useless and he offered nowt going forward at all. There is no need for him to be played at home against the likes of Villa, especially in a role where he doesn't seem to be the archetypal defensive midfielder. I'm not sure what instructions he was under, but to me he didn't seem to be playing either role particularly well and put in a decidedly "Parker" performance. Lots of sliding about and commitment, but killed the tempo of the game whenever he got the ball and his passing was atrocious, both short-range and long-range. He did have a couple of quality moments, as he always does, but that isn't enough to justify his selection in my eyes. People do love graft though, as Baggio keeps saying. Allardyce didn't really have a choice, mind, with the performance at Bolton and the injuries. I'm glad somebody else saw the game as I did. For his limited role in the team I thought Butt had a pretty average game at best. Gave the ball away with sloppy passing for which there's no excuse since he mostly passes sideways or backwards in a DM role. Geremi wasn't great either, but his passing range is a bit more ambitious so you can understand a few misplaced.

Your right about Emre but Barton is very much a creative player. He may not "run at" defences but he has quick pinpoint passing and an abilty to assist and score goals. It's about drive going forward in midfield. Barton takes no time getting from defence to attack in one quick move. Fine, but in crowded midfield battles like we had on Wednesday, it's quite hard to make pin point passes as players are tightly marked. That's where a player who can beat a man can open up some space which is why a player like Emre could give another option to change the game.

Doesn't do any harm to have another option though. Probably why Sam bought Djorkiouff tbh.

With Dyer gone, Emre is the only player who will actually run with the ball at defenders, which can open up some space. Haven't seen enough of Joey Barton to comment but I don't think he is a playmaker, more of a midfield general of which we have plenty now.

Not sure if he's Allardyce's type of player, but Emre is the only one who comes close IMO.

Yes there was the odd lapse, but you have to look at the general set up of the team and it was solid. There will be moans about the lack of chances we created, but you have to give Villa some credit for that. Matches between the top teams are usually stalemate for long periods but people tend to forget that on here.

Another good article light years ahead of what we are used to being fed in the Ronny. It might not be for everyone, but this sort of sensible reporting does the world of good compared to those who are only interested in headline rubbish. Just a part of the article below, worth reading the full story though Removed the link as it was messing up the page. It's from today's Journal if anyone can provide a link.

Gartside is so clever he's since gone into hiding after last week. Yes. replacing Sam Allardyce with Miss Piggy was a masterstroke. 4 points from 6 is ok for me. Villa aren't goint to be easy to beat this season, and while we could have done better, we could easily have lost this game last season. We lacked something going forward, but I'm not too concerned, I'm sure we'll score plenty in matches to come. At least we were solid and combative and that's the foundation on which good sides are built.

I hope this isn't true. Mike Ashley'#s commitment could probably be bought out but I wouldn't want to see Alan Shearer involved in ownership of the club. One of the best things about having a neutral owner is that we have smashed the old 'jobs for the boys' culture. With Shearer's return, that will all come back with Alan Oliver re-hired as chief cheerleader.

The way Big Mike stepped in to slap West Ham around over the the Dyer transfer showed me that he was a man not to be taken lightly. Big Mike and Big Sam are a match made in heaven. Onwards and upwards!

Most people know he'd rather be wearing a black and white one given half a chance.

The same was said about Jon Dahl Tomasson when he was here, it didn't mean he was well-suited to playing as an out-and-out striker either. Jon Dahl was a great finisher. Wasn't his fault he was asked to play as frontline striker when he clearly wasn't one.