brummie

Bent is one of the best finishers in the league, should be starting. Only if he gets the ball, and if he's not prepared to work towards that himself, then there's a problem.

First goal from a corner since 1995. Well, for at least 18 months.

havent you heard, Villa are pushing him out, cutting down on wages, wouldn't want the boy to get crocked before the big window opens again would you. That did occur to me, but then again, what's the point in doing as we are now - surely it'd only make him cheaper to get, if he's seen as not getting anywhere near the pitch. I think there's been a king-sized bust up behind the scenes. Must be on some mad wage? Can see why Lambert doesn't want him, trying to build a team with a bit of character , Bent doesn't fit the bill. I totally understand that bit. Bent is a type of striker which is dying out - the type who does nothing (quite literally nothing) but put the ball in the bet. He won't drop back to pick the ball up, he won't run at defenders to make space for other players, all he does is his thing. Benteke is playing extremely well, and contributes so much more, he leads the line so well by comparison. All that makes sense. What doesn't make sense is Bent not even getting onto the bench. That suggests something afood behind the scenes.

havent you heard, Villa are pushing him out, cutting down on wages, wouldn't want the boy to get crocked before the big window opens again would you. That did occur to me, but then again, what's the point in doing as we are now - surely it'd only make him cheaper to get, if he's seen as not getting anywhere near the pitch. I think there's been a king-sized bust up behind the scenes.

I've seen this thread and avoided it till now as I'd thought you were nuts to even consider it. Then I noticed that we are only 1 point behind you, despite us being almost pathologically unable to win matches. The general standard of the league is terrible this year. Anyone could go. Tell you what, though, on the bright side, Sunderland will be one of them I reckon.

Good grief, that was terribly nervy from us tonight. Oldest player in the side was Guzan at 28. I can't remember seeing a younger starting XI for us in 35 plus years. Something has clearly happened between Lambert and Bent. Not starting him, I understand (and agree with). Not having him on the bench is fucking nuts.

I understand McLeish is free. Then you'd really know what to suffer is like.

Nervous? Probably more like excited what with him being on an eight year deal *wink*

Ha ha ha, brilliant

RTG alive with talk of MON coming in for Downing in January. They're all getting over excited. They seem to think that: 1. MON got the best out of him - incorrect. He was injured the first half of the season we bought him, and was utterly, utterly awful for the rest of the season. Houllier came in, and Downing was transformed and had an excellent season. In fact, MON got absolutely nothing out of him 2. MON frequently played him centrally. Also incorrect. In fact, I can't remember seeing MON do that once, let alone "frequently", and in any case, by the time Downing started to contribute anything at all, MON had already left.

It is all part and parcel of having football as a hobby, though, isn't it? I mean, long periods of not enjoying the football - that's the way it is for all but a handful of money-blessed, CL playing clubs. It is all relative, though. You lot had an amazing season last year, and I think any comparative grimness this season feels worse because it's happening in the shadow of last season. For me, watching us, last season was genuinely like having to go for root canal work every week. This season, results are poor, but there's more entertainment. It's all cyclical, really. FWIW, regarding yesterday, a good mate of mine is a West Ham fan, and was telling me he's totally knocked it on the head this season, despite them doing well, the whole Big Sam / Kevin Nolan / boot it to Carroll thing has been the last straw. I bet it isn't though. We always end up coming back, don't we? And they know it, which is why they can (financially) take the piss out of us and get away with it.

He never did it when he was at our place, so it must be a Sunderland thing.

I know we've done it since, but the last time i saw us beat those CUNTS at our place, Peter Withe scored.

I feel sick.

That is exactly what I found myself thinking the other day, weirdly.

Nah, I am far too old to have a name like Zac. That's the bullshit we have been dealing with since he walked out on us. Constantly told he worked miracles, didn't spend too much, was forced out by Lerner etc etc. It fucked a lot of people off down here. As for 6th, 6th, 6th, no it's not bad. I understand that it might be the holy grail for a club like Sunderland to finish as high as sixth, but if MON was a miracle worker for doing that, what was David O'Leary for doing it with no money? What about the fact that between 1996 and 2002 we were never out of the top eight? A period which included 4th, 5th and 6th in successive seasons? And which also included a cup win? We've finished in the top six in only just less than half of the seasons since the PL was invented in 1992, so really, it's decent, but not stratospheric. Just like you finishing in the top six. The difference is, under MON it took an absolute huge amount of money to do, and there was not even the slightest nod or wink paid to the importance of building for the future, nothing at all. I'd also point out that there's a commoin misconception that MON came here and we had a dreadful squad, nothing to work with, as we'd just had a terrible season. Utter fucking nonsense. He had Sorensen, Delaney, Mellberg, Laursen, Bouma, Barry, Agbonlahor, Angel and Baros. We also had Gary Cahill who had just broken into the first team. That was not at all bad as the spine of a team, and you could probably make a decent argument that despite spending Champions League money, and CL wages, we now have a championship squad which is weaker than what was here when he arrived. I just dont get it. Why do these pundits think we go on about this? Do they think it's bitterness? Why? Because he left? It's nothing to do with him leaving, it is about the state he left us in, and the circumstances in which the self centred bag of shit did it.

Ajax fans are the best I have seen at Villa Park for at least 20 years. They were amazing.

Apparently, his comments were made in his column in the match day program yesterday. http://blogs.birminghammail.net/astonvilla/2012/11/re-righting-a-ron-g-martin.html

I watched our match at Sunderland on Football First just now, and those MOTD highlights are a joke. We absolutely controlled the game. Sunderland were truly, truly terrible, and suffer exactly the same weaknesses we did under Pubehead. We had six shots on target. They had one, and that was in the 84th minute. They're awful. MON looks like he doesn't like it any more. Good shout for next manager to go in my opinion.

I see RTG has a thread where they've spotted his making the same subs at the same time all the time. Just to flag up I pointed that one out as one of the things to happen.

Reading coverage of MON at Sunderland on a couple of Villa forums today, these are some stand-out comments. I wouldn't want you to think I'm a lone voice in the wilderness, far from it. referring to the video of those journalists finally cottoning on to him:

Four transfer windows under Marty means about 100m in fees on British based players. Oh, and maybe Aiden McGeady.

Two sides who have won 2 league matches between them in, what, about 30 matches? 0-0 all over it, sadly.

Scheduled ages in advance, though. This time two days ago, people were saying "Reading Arsenal and Chelsea Man United? What unimaginative choices"