brummie

That was Villa-esque, conceding from a 94th minute corner.

Honestly, if you lose this one, you're utterly doomed. You're playing a club which is collapsing from within. The fans have lost faith in the owner, in the team, and have seen their side win a handful of matches in one entire calendar year. It's horrible. The strongest bond remaining is probably between fans and manager - strangely, considering - but confidence is at an all time low. I didn't renew my ST this year (finances), and got offered a free ticket for this one, but turned it down. I can't face it. I am not even going to follow on the internet, I am going to turn off my phone and pretend it isn't happening. I am, in short, broken.

Of course, I do, but I won't be holding my breath. I'd actually settle for him catching a ferry out to Majorca and getting torpedoed in the Med. Anything so long as I don't have to watch him at Villa Park ever, ever again.

Alan Hutton has gone to Real Mallorca on loan. They're having an official presentation of him to the fans tomorrow evening. I'm going to watch it on their website. I'd assume the people of Majorca are used to neanderthal, pissed up British skinheads, so it'll be love at first sight. I am hoping and praying Mallorca's next game against Barcelona is on the telly. I'll buy extra popcorn for that one.

Until about five weeks ago, we weren't, in fact we weren't even near to being the worst side in the league. In the period since then, we have been the worst side in the league by an absolute mile.

At least you are doing something about your plight and getting decent players in. If Pardew then can't improve things, then you have to wonder if he deserves to be in the job. Our manager, on the other hand, is getting no support, and the team is sinking fast. If you can't profit from our current mental state, then really, you'd have to be truly poor.

We are doing a carbon copy of you in your relegation year. We will probably now sack Lambert and appoint Tony Morley or something fucking stupid. I am without words. I genuinely don't think I can care any more. The club is getting torn apart, there was a decent amount of support for the manager, but the support for the chairman is absolutely zero.

Not if you don't get them the ball, they won't. We are utterly pathetic and getting worse by the game. We're even worse at home, you're right there. If you can't beat us, with maybe a couple of your new signings in place, then I genuinely fear you'll be heading the same place we are. The last week has just been the icing of pure, dessicated dog shit on a cake of vomit.

Worse than us? Truly dreadful. Honestly, we are shocking. In the space of five weeks, I have lost all faith in the chairman, and am pretty much at breaking point with the manager. We are pathetic. We are not only going to get relegated, we will finish bottom. I am aware how shit you have been of late, I have seen some of your matches, and really, right now, I'd back Sandwell and District Paper Boys XI to cause us havoc at set pieces. Honestly, I am so angry right now, I could punch a hole in the fucking wall. I have known some terrible Villa sides, but the last five or six weeks or so is the worst spell of utter, utter shite I have ever seen. It is pathetic. Not only that, we are now getting the crowd turning on the team. 2,000 of them trekked to fucking Milwall tonight to be subjected to that shite, at the end of the game, the players come to applaud the fans, the fans apparently waved them away. It's utterly, utterly wretched.

Villa have been conceding goals for fun from set pieces this season. Cabaye really needs to find his form for set piece delivery in this match, or at least leave it for Anita. I am not really exaggerating much when I say that a corner against us is as good as a penalty. It is all about scoring against us. When we played West Brom last week, we were brilliant in the first half. We then took a two goal lead, came out for the second, conceded early and utterly fell apart. There's a good team there, but they're mostly young kids, and their confidence has taken a huge kicking. It doesn't take much to make it collapse. That's why that article is so infuriating. If we got in a CB with a bit of nous, and a hard working defensive midfielder, that team would improve exponentially. Every fucker can see it. Except the chairman. It wouldn't even take huge money, 8m or so the pair if we chose correctly.

Its like i'm reading the same thing twice except the words "lambert" and "lerner" were replaced by "Ashley" and "Pardew" eerily familiar. yep, it is exactly the same. in fact, I am starting to think Lerner is using you as his case study to follow.

You need to attack our left side, get balls into the box. We can't cope with it. Everyone has worked it out. Even Bradford.

We've given up. You'll easily win this one, with your new signings. Read this: http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/aston-villa-manager-paul-lambert-1241001 and imagine how that feels for us. Club effectively accepted it. We are done for.

Only now can I speak of the horror show that was Tuesday. Barring some excellent transfer window work in the next seven days, we are going down, we are done for. Lambert still has a decent amount of support - and I support him, too - but the "tactics" of the last half hour against Bradford were a horror show. Play with five strikers and hoof the ball at them hopefully, whilst meanwhile, fourth division defenders head the balls away effortlessly. I wouldn't fucking mind, but in the first half, we looked totally in control, Bradford barely left their half. Then the usual feeble inability to defend corners, and the inevitable total collapse of confidence. I genuinely think the last four weeks have been the most depressing month in the time I've supported Villa, and I went to my first match in 1973, and have seen us go from European champions to second division in five seasons, so there's a lot of depressed periods to compare it with.

You're all wasting your time discussing this one. This is 0-0. This is the most 0-0 game ever. You won't see a game more goalless than this one.

I don't think it's too much worse than most major cities TBH, it's tainted by graffiti/litter/dog poo/cigarette buds and like every city has its grim areas. Still a beautiful place to visit though. Napoli, now there's a shithole. The last time I went to Naples, there was a taxi driver strike, in which they were refusing to pick up or drop off people at the airport. I therefore had to walk out of the airport, and up a road, before I could get one. Exiting the airport, the very first thing I saw was an enormous dead rat, just lying there in the middle of the street. Weird. Naples is a hole (google Naples refuse collection for an idea of the problems it has), but it is also an amazing city in many senses. I went to see Napoli play Inter, and it was one of the best football experiences ever. Aye when we went the garbage collectors were on strike, but I think this is a continuous problem. It definitely has a lot of charm despite the problems, was there in the summer so didn't get to go to the San Paolo. In fact I've been to Italy 7 or 8 times and I've only ever been during the summer, which is a shame as I'd love to take in football while I was there. What year did you have a season ticket for Milan/Inter? The garbage problem isn't so much to do with strikes as it is organised crime, and the mafia involved in all sorts of horrible shit, dumping toxic waste in the country side, whilst mountains of rubbish build up in the city. 96-97 was my Milan ST season, but I also went a fair amount in 95-6 and 97-8. I'd only ever go and watch Inter if i had friends or family over, and they fancied a game, and it was Inter at home.

Really? Not sure I'd agree with that. I've been to the San Siro probably 30 times (season ticket holder one year), and I always thought the walk from the metro station to the stadium along the tree lined avenue was quite nice. I guess it depends which area you approach from. One thing I will say, the San Siro is one of the truly epic sights in football, the first time you see it. From outside, it just - to my eyes - looks absolutely beautiful. Mind you, I am aware that I am maybe exaggerating that as a result of the 1990 WC, which is my favourite (for lots of reasons, some not to do with actual football) Have walked from the Metro up and I must say there was a lot of dodgy geezers about, atmosphere was a bit weird (playing Napoli though ) and the graffiti along that tree-lined avenue was grim to say the least. Don't speak Italian but Gays and Negros need not apply around there from what we could make out. All-in-all, a strange experience Graffiti is just an Italian thing, really. I lived in Northern Italy for a few years, and you get used to the racism (not that it excuses it in any way shape or form). Although, to be quite honest, the worst racism I ever saw at Milan matches was directed at southern Italians (or 'terroni', as they'd call them).

Rome's tremendous. Bit twitchy at night but it's a super place to go to. What do you mean by twitchy? I was planning to go there later this year. Italian cities have more of an overt drug problem than English ones do. Heroin is stil a major problem, so there's always a slight element of danger to be had, but I don't think there's too much to worry about. Rome is a truly fantastic city, though. In terms of history, I'd say only Florence gets anywhere near it, but Rome also has an elegance and a swank to it than Florence doesn't have.

Not about the Bernabeu, but our fans had horrendous problems at Atletico Madrid - basically coppers laying in, truncheons flying, for absolutely no reason. Compare that with our trip to Bilbao, which I went on, and I don't think there's a single Villa fan alive who went to that who will say he's had a better away trip since. Great city, great people.

Rome's tremendous. Bit twitchy at night but it's a super place to go to. Totally agree. A fantastic city, with amazing history. It's fucking ace.

I don't think it's too much worse than most major cities TBH, it's tainted by graffiti/litter/dog poo/cigarette buds and like every city has its grim areas. Still a beautiful place to visit though. Napoli, now there's a shithole. The last time I went to Naples, there was a taxi driver strike, in which they were refusing to pick up or drop off people at the airport. I therefore had to walk out of the airport, and up a road, before I could get one. Exiting the airport, the very first thing I saw was an enormous dead rat, just lying there in the middle of the street. Weird. Naples is a hole (google Naples refuse collection for an idea of the problems it has), but it is also an amazing city in many senses. I went to see Napoli play Inter, and it was one of the best football experiences ever.

Barcelona is a fabulous City The area around the San Giro is really terrible, dodgy as. Friends Mum got mugged in Barcelona, first day there an all. I had the worlds shittest mugger try to attempt to mug me and some randoms. A group of us were stumbling back from a bar crawl, carrying a barely conscious American lad and got asked to hand over our phones and wallets. Basically turned into a "no" - "hand them over" back and forth argument for 2 or 3 minutes and he just walked away. Some skinheads tried to mug me and my mate in Budapest in 1992. They were pathetic. They approached us, looking menacing, then their leader shouted something in Hungarian, we replied in English along the lines of "errr, don't understand". At that point, they seemed flustered by our foreignness, and their leader cleared his throat, adopted his best accent, and said "Do you have any forints for us?" We said no, they accepted the answer, and walked on. Shittest muggers ever. This was, obv, soon into their transition to capitalism, I imagine two decades of the ravages of unrestrained capitalism and the pursuit of profit have managed to improve their muggers.

Really? Not sure I'd agree with that. I've been to the San Siro probably 30 times (season ticket holder one year), and I always thought the walk from the metro station to the stadium along the tree lined avenue was quite nice. I guess it depends which area you approach from. One thing I will say, the San Siro is one of the truly epic sights in football, the first time you see it. From outside, it just - to my eyes - looks absolutely beautiful. Mind you, I am aware that I am maybe exaggerating that as a result of the 1990 WC, which is my favourite (for lots of reasons, some not to do with actual football)

Same in Italy. I never understood why, probably because the media there always refer to it as an "industrial, grey and isolated city in the north east" This is largely because Britain is one of the most capital-centric countries in the world. You basically have London, then - as far as foreigners are concerned - nothing else worth bothering about. France is just as bad. re Italian press, it's funny, but if you go to, say, Milan, outside of a relatively small area in the city centre, you are quickly into some of the most depressing urban environments in western europe - great chunks of the city are taken up by housing projects that look like Caeucescu designed them. That's true, outside the centre "bit" Milan is hideous, absolutely hideous Although, on the flip side, as a filthy rich footballer, you're perfectly able to get yourself a lovely pad on Lake Como, which isn't too far away. I believe that's where Jose lived when at Inter. Passed it on a train from Milan to Switzerland once, very nice part of the world indeed It is beautiful, as are all the lakes.

Same in Italy. I never understood why, probably because the media there always refer to it as an "industrial, grey and isolated city in the north east" This is largely because Britain is one of the most capital-centric countries in the world. You basically have London, then - as far as foreigners are concerned - nothing else worth bothering about. France is just as bad. re Italian press, it's funny, but if you go to, say, Milan, outside of a relatively small area in the city centre, you are quickly into some of the most depressing urban environments in western europe - great chunks of the city are taken up by housing projects that look like Caeucescu designed them. That's true, outside the centre "bit" Milan is hideous, absolutely hideous Milan is the only place I've wanted to cut short a holiday from. The place is a f***ing s***-tip (outside of the actual city centre). f***ing awful place. And I live in Seaham. milans city centre wasn't that great either. some nice bits round by that cathedral but just a modern, living , working city centre really. That's their city centre imo! Stayed in a hotel near their main train station to the North (10 minutes from city centre) and it was about as insipid and dull as you're going to get. People associate 'Milan' with glamour, fashion, glitz and a bit of panache. Truth is that's it's a bit of a hovel. Milan central station is a horrible hole. When I lived over there, you'd see junkies shooting up in broad daylight around there. My mate lived in a road along the side of the station, and used to go to work in the morning and find junkies asleep in his car.