Shak

Diarra would be a nice signing, young and looks a prospect. Potential successor to Butt, and more swanky depth~!

They really don't think much of Nolan over there, glad we didn't sign him.

Yep. Good to see Kazenga getting a run out and apparently holding his own, sounds like a good potential prospect.

He's an improvement on what they've got, to be fair.

15 victories minimum. If we can win more than 12 that'll be fantastic, you're always gonna have a few draws against other mid-table teams and then there's the Big 4. Agree with your general concept though, with the team playing well the fans will make some vicious noise. Combine that with Allardyce's high tempo play and we'll be a fucking nightmare to visit.

Cid reckons he's offside it would seem. Great pic that.

Do you really think Roeder would have done much better had he had 7 subs at his disposal every game? Can't see how having two extra subs will kill the tactical side of the game, personally.

Could be some meaty challenges between Bouma and Martins if the teams line-up as expected. Villa were very poor in the Liverpool match, but then Liverpool are notoriously hard to play against. Much will depend on how we limit then supply to their players out wide, as our full-backs are still the worry.

Well, he was instrumental in propelling Newcastle and Blackburn up the league, so who's to say he won't with West Ham. They have a s**** manager though, so he probably can't do it on his own, even though this is undoubtedly the "plan" I don't think they will get relegated, but when whatisnameiclandicman realises Curbishley is mediocre at best he'll be gone On what are you basing your opinion that Curbishley is a s**** manager? His achievements at Charlton were as good if not better than Big Sam's at Bolton. And he kept them up last season, with a little help from Tevez, which was nothing short of a miracle. Call it a hunch, call it an aura I look for in a good manager. Charlton suited him, small club, small budget but lacking the personality to move higher. Allardyce on the other hand, has that and more. I noticed that when he was asked about being interviewed for the England job, he lost his rag at being pestered. There was something in his body language that spoke volumes, I thought when I saw that, that he didn't have the temperament to cope with being at a bigger club more in the spotlight. Looked a broken man with 7 or 8 games left to go in the Prem lasts season, seemed so downbeat in his interviews and looked resigned to going down. Amazed they stayed up, agree with your assesment of him.

You've failed to factor in my presence at the match.

Diouf would add a bit of pace, which we need as only really Martins has that explosive pace you need somewhere up front in your team, particularly out wide. Owen's quick too, but does his best work in the penalty box. If Dyer and Solano go, I'd be contented with Diouf. I'd think there are better options out there though, all things considered.

I think we'll see those players, but in a 4-3-3. No matter how well Butt played at Bolton, I don't think there is any need to play him in this match. Villa will be no pushover though, we'll still need to win the battle in midfield. Just give the wide players less defensive responsibility and the full-backs and Smith and Geremi more licence to get forward. We can still approcah the game more attack minded without changing the personnel. I'd hope we'll start with the same team, we still have more than enough attacking quality on the field to go at them without dropping Butt.

There's not one good reason to keep it at 5 subs only.

4-5-1 again, and likely the same team IMO. Might be tempted to drop Butt in favour of someone a bit more attack-minded in midfield. Or possibly drop Carr and push Geremi to RB to achieve the same thing. I'd expect we'll go with the same team though.

I agree, Allardyce out.

Stay home then Nope, the night out afterwards is too good.

We'll almost certainly lose, unfortunately.

Flip-flopping fuckers.

To be fair to the lad, it's not that bad a post really.

It'll be Hislop's fault if we do, no doubt. Don't be forgetting that Pav wasn't exactly great. That's not the way he tells it.

It'll be Hislop's fault if we do, no doubt.

Piss off, free kick my arse

Almost a brilliant ball by Nani there. We'll get a 5th minute of injury time now.

Does seem strange alright, far more likely to get a goal than O'Shea surely? Having said that, O'Gay will probably score now. Fastest sending off ever?

John O'Shea playing up front.