brummie

We've got a chronic lack of ambition instead, I fear. Too many of our fans saying "we're not going to be in a relegation fight" without looking at the points bit of the table, just the position bit. Higher up the table this year, but playing wise, gone backwards, definitely. I think personally how you play seems to be more or less dependent on how Benteke plays, when on form you look a completely different outfit to whats sometimes appeared this season I think last season we were very good at chasing the ball down when we didn't have it, and then attempting to pass it when we did, but this year the midfield seems to have gone missing. The player most important to how we do is - believe it or not - Agbonlahor. He's deeply average in lots of ways, but we always seem a better team with him on the pitch. Benteke was never going to continue on a barren patch, BTW. Can't believe how many people in the media piled into him without looking at the fact he was injured but rushed back and played too early by the Belgian national team. The boy is quality. Our problem is Guzan is very good, Vlaar has been truly excellent this season and carries the defence, Benteke, Weimann and Gabby can do it up front, but in the middle we have Delph, who is our best midfielder by an embarassing margin and doing superbly, but he has to carry the whole midfield.

We've got a chronic lack of ambition instead, I fear. Too many of our fans saying "we're not going to be in a relegation fight" without looking at the points bit of the table, just the position bit. Higher up the table this year, but playing wise, gone backwards, definitely.

Yesterday: Lambert "We're working on about 15 things at the moment, in the hope some of them come off" Today: Fucks off to Liverpool with whole squad and medical staff, not signing anyone. Disappointed is putting it mildly. I thought Hoolahan would have been a great signing, but it was quite clear that with the bad blood with Norwich (them suing Lambert, us and them arguing over the Jed Steer price and going to a tribunal) there was a good chance they'd tell us to fuck off at the last moment. Which is what happened when they rejected our last bid last night. So basically, Hoolahan, from a club who hate Lambert so much they won't even take his phone calls, is Plans A, B, C and D to fill a position we have been desperately keen to fill for 1.5 seasons.

There's something about Tom Ince that I find really off-putting. I mean the whole question of who he plays for. His Dad is an absolute cunt, too.

Hmmm. Not quite every club

That doesn't add up to reality. Too often we try and huff and puff and can't force a way through, mostly because the only decent midfielder we have is Delph - who is so good compared to the other options we have, it is embarrassing. We have absolutely no way of opening up a defence. Meanwhile, we've started to believe this stuff about being a good counter attacking side so too often we are happy to drop back and look to counter attack, and there's a thin line between that and playing hopeful long balls. Don't get me wrong, too much of this season, we have been awful, but that is nothing about going long deliberately (as an Allardyce side would), and far more about just not having players good enough to do what we really want to do. By one dimensional you summed what I meant in bold rather than long ball. Contrast to when I thought you were decent to watch last season is massive. We're a worse side to watch than last season, but we're far more resilient, and are getting better results. We need to add someone this week. Hoolahan, who is an unspectacular but very much underrated player, in exactly the position we need one, would be perfect.

That doesn't add up to reality. Too often we try and huff and puff and can't force a way through, mostly because the only decent midfielder we have is Delph - who is so good compared to the other options we have, it is embarrassing. We have absolutely no way of opening up a defence. Meanwhile, we've started to believe this stuff about being a good counter attacking side so too often we are happy to drop back and look to counter attack, and there's a thin line between that and playing hopeful long balls. Don't get me wrong, too much of this season, we have been awful, but that is nothing about going long deliberately (as an Allardyce side would), and far more about just not having players good enough to do what we really want to do.

utterly nuts game. Great goal, too. As was Brunt's

Yay, we won at spreadsheets (________)o(___) I was talking to a friend of a friend in the pub the other day, talking about football. I was bemoaning our lack of ambition in the transfer window, how our expectations have been lowered so much the last few years, etc etc, and he started going on about how we've now got a much more sustainable wage bill, how it was once 85% of turnover, how now it's much more sensible and how with the new tv deal coming in, and commercial revenue on the rise, the figures look much better. I suddenly found myself reflecting that this must be how it would feel to be a supporter of, say, Marks and Spencer or WH Smiths or something, pleasure reduced to financial figures. Depressing. Well you could always have had Randy Lerner continue to bankroll Martin O'Neill as an alternative. Or, alternatively, have found a middle way.

Yay, we won at spreadsheets (________)o(___) I was talking to a friend of a friend in the pub the other day, talking about football. I was bemoaning our lack of ambition in the transfer window, how our expectations have been lowered so much the last few years, etc etc, and he started going on about how we've now got a much more sustainable wage bill, how it was once 85% of turnover, how now it's much more sensible and how with the new tv deal coming in, and commercial revenue on the rise, the figures look much better. I suddenly found myself reflecting that this must be how it would feel to be a supporter of, say, Marks and Spencer or WH Smiths or something, pleasure reduced to financial figures. Depressing. If it makes you feel any better, we would support 'The Officers Club' based upon that example. Yohan Cabaye was £147m this morning. Oh, don't get the impression WHS or M&S were chosen for any particular reason. This season for me seems most like hanging around outside Poundland, hoping they do one of those riot-causing half price sales.

Yay, we won at spreadsheets (________)o(___) I was talking to a friend of a friend in the pub the other day, talking about football. I was bemoaning our lack of ambition in the transfer window, how our expectations have been lowered so much the last few years, etc etc, and he started going on about how we've now got a much more sustainable wage bill, how it was once 85% of turnover, how now it's much more sensible and how with the new tv deal coming in, and commercial revenue on the rise, the figures look much better. I suddenly found myself reflecting that this must be how it would feel to be a supporter of, say, Marks and Spencer or WH Smiths or something, pleasure reduced to financial figures. Depressing.

Imagine how I felt 12 months ago tonight, watching us go out to Bradford Shitting City. As bad as when blues won it? Much worse. Actually, terrible yet at the same time so weird and inexplicable, it became hilarious. Lambert must have had some sort of stroke-like funny turn that night. Panicking and playing five up front for the last 40 minutes.

Imagine how I felt 12 months ago tonight, watching us go out to Bradford Shitting City.

Even as a neutral, that is fucking brilliant

We are truly pathetic. Manager lost 90 percent of the support he had, we've gone backwards so quickly this season, the league table flatters us immensely.

Apparently when he was talking to us, Molde's owner said he'd cut all funding for the club if Solksjaer left, put the pressure on big time, and he backed down and stayed

Kozak has broken his leg, apparently. Pisser. I like him. I wonder if this will affect our transfer plans.

We should have won by considerably more than one goal yesterday, too. Sunderland looked terrible.

Sometimes, having to share your city with other clubs can be a big bonus. Mostly because you get situations like this, when you just know they're going to be really, really fucking annoyed. http://www.avfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10265~3580453,00.html New library to be turned claret and blue over christmas: http://www.avfc.co.uk/javaImages/7b/3a/0,,10265~12466811,00.png

He's not been the same since returning from injury. They all have barren patches, I am sure he'll return to form. The problem is, the whole team is abysmal of late, despite picking up decent points here and there.

I flicked on to Football Focus (or some shite like that) really briefly this morning, and Pardew was on. I saw at most 45 seconds of it, but from what I saw, he was basically saying "Not only are we doing very well, but look, that Southampton side is practically mine, too".

Good grief, Curtis "we'll call it £9.5m, Martin" Davies there. I wondered what had happened to him. Imagined he'd be driving a van or something by now

When he said that, this is the image which flickered across my mental television. http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/52891000/jpg/_52891356_mcleish640.jpg

More proof stats are bollocks in the grand scheme of things. First half Southampton had twice as much of the ball as us almost (34-66) yet we were the better team. Second-half we had more possession than the first, yet played worse. Means fuck all. We had 27% possession at Southampton, yet they hardly had a shot on target, their two goals came from balls whipped in to the far post and headed back across (so hardly the result of hours of tiki-taki passing), and we won 3-2.

agent was onto him quickly Refugee, grew up in Newton, doorstep of Villa Park. Clearly wants to move to us. Without sounding flippant, it's hard to imagine anywhere in the world with conditions so harsh you'd consider living in Newtown as somewhere worthy of refuge.