Memphis

Think this sums it up for me. On his day the best shot stopper I've watched.

Among the many problems here is that this expected result continues to put the club into a greater and greater downward spiral. As we fail to achieve results, we creep closer to relegation and the uncertainty within the squad grows. As we look less attractive to a potential buyer, Ashley's continued insistence on making megabucks on any potential purchase of the club looks less and less likely, meaning he just won't sell up. If he doesn't sell up, we will not have a stable manager, and without a stable manager, we won't get any results...and the whole spiral begins anew, only deeper. I've never felt this resigned to failure before. But I have never wanted to be wrong more in my life.

Next manager odds from Ladbrokes: Gustavo Poyet 6/4 Dennis Wise 4/1 Didier Deschamps 9/2 Alan Shearer 5/1 David Moyes 6/1 Harry Redknapp 12/1 Steve Bruce 12/1 Alan Curbishley 16/1 Gerrad Houllier 16/1 Frank Rijkaard 20/1 Javier Irureta 20/1 Miguel Angel Lotina 20/1 Roberto Mancini 20/1 Slaven Bilic 20/1 David O'Leary 25/1 Jose Camacho 25/1 Gordon Strachan 33/1 Graham Souness 33/1 Gus Hiddink 33/1 Marcello Lippi 33/1 Ottmar Hitzfeld 33/1 Roberto Martinez 33/1 Sam Allardyce 33/1 Stuart Pearce 33/1 Zico 33/1 Glenn Hoddle 40/1 Ruud Gullit 40/1 Terry Venables 40/1 George Graham 66/1

Provided there's an adequate replacement in the works (and KK's quotes seem to indicate there is), I'm not all that concerned. Sounds like he had a bit of an attitude problem and he wanted away. We've made the best of a bad situation. He is not irreplaceable by any means.

Didn't see the first half, but watching now, this is some mind-numbing stuff. Milner : crossing :: Smith : finishing

I know it was mentioned in the official match thread, but for Oba to be amongst the 25 for Friday's match is just extraordinary, given the circumstances. I know how hard it was for me when my mom died, and I can't believe he's back and in contention for Hertha. Truly a legend. Let's make sure his efforts are fully appreciated.

If their official website is relying on the NOTW, it's certainly full of shit.

If you can't trust the Swedish fan site of a Portuguese team for English football news, what can you trust?

If you want to pay a little bit, there's an interesting service at www.pressdisplay.com - they put up digital editions of entire newspapers from all over the world. Every word, every ad, every pull-out section, pretty much everything. They have a huge number of papers, mostly American, but many from the UK including the Chronicle/Sunday Sun - if you sign up for an account with the promo code "blackberry", you get a month's unlimited service for free. For those that like the look/layout of papers, it's interesting. And from time to time you get stories that don't make it to the online editions of these respective papers, so it's a nice option.

Of all the issues, potential or actual, that face this club now and in the summer, this might be the most insignificant.

It is plainly obvious that the players have been completely sapped of confidence and commitment - that did not happen overnight and it will not be solved overnight, no matter how extraordinary Kevin Keegan's psychological tactics and confidence-building may be. One win - or 90 minutes of a committed performance in a draw/loss to a team like Man Utd - will do wonders. As will reshaping the squad in the summer - Keegan may have overestimated the skill level in the squad at the present, but he will not make the same mistake in the summer. English Premier Wigan 0-0 Aston Villa 19-11-2006 English Premier Aston Villa 1-1 Middlesbro 25-11-2006 English Premier Aston Villa 1-3 Man City 29-11-2006 English Premier Portsmouth 2-2 Aston Villa 02-12-2006 English Premier Sheff Utd 2-2 Aston Villa 11-12-2006 English Premier Aston Villa 0-1 Bolton 16-12-2006 English Premier Aston Villa 0-3 Man Utd 23-12-2006 English Premier Tottenham 2-1 Aston Villa 26-12-2006 English Premier Charlton 2-1 Aston Villa 30-12-2006 English Premier Aston Villa 0-0 Chelsea 02-01-2007 English FA Cup Man Utd 2-1 Aston Villa 07-01-2007 English Premier Man Utd 3-1 Aston Villa 13-01-2007 That was Martin O'Neill's run of form from November of 2006 to mid-January 2007. All of us knew he was a decent enough manager and a good fit at Villa, but it obviously took some level of patience from fans and board alike during that horrible run (5 points out of 36). Keegan is the right fit for this club right now. Even if the results are shit at the moment.

http://i32.tinypic.com/2mgwaoi.gif THAT's the best picture they got of him? Looks like a camp Anne Robinson... Please don't hotlink from the official site. Thanks.

These discussions devolve into the same thing every time... Obviously all of us would love to see trophy signings. Their absence in this transfer window is more likely because of a lack of availability and/or interest in joining us rather than an unwillingness to spend money. Better to stock the youth system with promising talent than to do nothing at all.

Why anyone would have a problem with signing a highly-rated, potentially quite good young player is beyond me.

This was always going to happen. Any person who has watched us play 90 minutes this season knows how thin the squad is and how toothless our attack can be. Playing Arsenal twice in a row at the Emirates only highlighted the obvious flaws. We'd love to add in this window but who'd come to this rabble at the moment? It's a difficult position to be in. With a manager whose teams thrive on confidence, I can't help but wonder what just one solitary goal might do for the side. Hopefully we'll find out soon.

Plucky little Liverpool just grabbed an equaliser against mighty Havant & Waterlooville.

This is true - let's remember the 20 million pound offers that were supposedly on the way from Man Utd et al to get their hands on Dyer. He was shit hot at the time. Zoggy can be great, but he's still a ways from being viewed in the same light Dyer was back then.

Neither of his legs were very cool at all.

I'd like to know what this speculation has done to Chris Mort's socks.

I'm quite sure Ashley and Keegan are well aware that the cost of doing business in the Premiership has risen sharply. And I'm sure they're also aware that Sky and international TV money has risen sharply as well. Taking inflation into account, the prices aren't all that silly. Besides, when you're a billionaire, what's 10 million between friends? If Keegan really wants a player (and can lure him to us), he will get him.

All of this is pointless until Berbatov or someone close to him makes even the slightest indication that he would be open to this move now - and I doubt that he would be.

Lua Lua looked promising and the team tried to actually play football. Those are the positives. Milner was awful today, N'Zogbia never really got going, Ameobi wasn't anywhere near match sharpness, and Owen was a nonfactor. Given all of that, it was going to be hard to score against anyone, much less a team with 9 behind the ball. It's a process. And I hope this shows people how far we have to go.

Nothing too surprising, really. You get the sense the players are playing under a bit of pressure, and with the complete lack of options available, it's going to be hard to create much. Bolton have come to stop us from playing, and they have done.

Could it be that he has a zillion Pounds instead?

Excellent and important point.