brummie

Take Nicky Shorey instead. He's wank.

That was an excellent tackle by Zat. I'm firmly in the "Zat is gash" camp, but these last few games he has played, he's looked very good.

Own goal machine.

Milner. Goal machine. Fact.

Is Sting a Newcastle fan? What about Ian Le Frenais? I reckon he's fucking loaded. Anyway, bollocks to local owners. If that was the vogue, we'd be owned by Black Sabbath or something. Actually, that sounds quite cool.

Look at where they are in the table. Why - other than vast amounts of wad at the end of every month - would people like Buffon or Casillas join them now? Incidentally, Richards has been shite this year, he's not really going to attract anyone. Their problem is that they've been bought by people with immense amounts of money but not the first idea how to run a football club. They'd be better off setting themselves realistic player targets (of which Bridge is one, admittedly) to gradually improve, rather than have absurd situations like trying to hijack that Berbatov deal and talking aobut how they're going to go for Kaka / Ronaldo / whoever. The whole thing will end in tears.

I love reading match threads whilst having no other source of info re what is going on in the game.

Because players who will improve them in leaps and bounds will not want to join Manchester City at the moment, that's why.

Also saying he will bid 10 million for Given next week. Given Richards Dunne Kompany Bridge SWP Parker Ireland Robinho Santa Bellamy is still not a champions league team imho Quite far away from it imo. People also assume that City just buy a load of expensive players and hey presto, Champions League. Even Chelsea invested sensibly over a period of time before RA arrived. It isn't quite that easy (as they are finding out every time someone - Senna the latest - laughs at them).

I don't know if others have made this point, but there's a very big difference between Liverpool and, say, Man United's away support. Man United's away following tends to be largely Mancunians, they seem to have a large core following who manage to get tickets to all away matches, and they're consistently the best away fans in the country (even though I fucking hate them and their club, I can admit that). Look at the people you get following Liverpool away, and you'll see an awful lot of "once a season" fans who live in the city where the match is being played, jester hat wearing post 1992, daytripping middle class fuckwits who'd never heard of Liverpool FC until a few years ago, and excited looking Scandinavians on football breaks. That's why Liverpool's away support is consistently rubbish. Incidentally, I've no preference for either of these clubs, I can't stand either of them, and the above is a big simplification, but I think there's a lot to it.

Kinda makes some of your rubbish home results look bad though. Everton and Chelsea are the same, it's quite strange. If you'd beaten Boro, Fulham and Liverpool, all games I watched and think you should have won, you'd be top. It's not the right way of looking at things really - this why Man Utd are Champions fifty times over and Villa aren't. We had them games aswell, can remember losing at home to Leeds, Spurs and at Bolton. Games which we should have won. Then there ya go, nine more points - we should have won it! Doens't quite work like that unfortunately. *Thinks about Bobby era * Another reason Man United, Chelsea and Liverpool do so well is that they consistently win matches - frequently with last minute goals - which most other teams wouldn't win. *pause for thought*

^^ it is definitely a very, very weird season so far, can't disagree with that.

Seven wins away from home by Christmas. Not wanting to sound like I am crowing (I'm not, I am aware of our faults), but given some of the posts above, that is why we are where we are. That's really excellent.

Hull today just sat and defended. I wonder if their early season spirit has gone and they've gone in to panic mode where they just try not to lose. That's a one way ticket to the CCC ordinarily. They probably have enough points on the board now to survive.

The ref had an absolute fucking stinker today.

Quite right. It is all luck. That's why this is looking like 7 wins from 10 away matches. Pure luck. Last 2 games against WHam and Hull you have been shit. Not even defended well as West Ham should have had 3 or 4. Would love to know what O'Neill says to the big guy upstairs What about the game against Arsenal (ie the last game) where we should have had 4 by half time? And if they "should" have had 3 or 4 but didn't, then maybe we actually did play well? As i said on the "story so far" thread, we have played well within ourselves for most of this season, but have still been good enough to end the year in fourth, three points ahead of Arsenal. If you want to suggest that's all about luck, then fair enough. Personally, I think it is a litte more complex than that buy hey ho.

Quite right. It is all luck. That's why this is looking like 7 wins from 10 away matches. Pure luck.

They have more points than all but three other teams Quite correct. Sad indictment of the premiership Is it actually upside down?

We're not, we're fifth. Did you see us own Arsenal who are fourth the other day?

They have more points than all but three other teams Quite correct.

We've played quite well (we've owned the ball), we're just faced with exactly the thing we struggle with - a team set on defending and nothing else.

Laursen? Friedel? Davies? Milner? (obv the last one is a joke)

That's a slightly unsympathetic view of things. To suggest we just hit it long for those two to sprint on to is misleading. In fact, the only thing I've seen Young sprint on to and finish was jagielka's back pass at Goodison. We have a problem unlocking teams who stick men behind the ball and defend. This season, most teams who come to Villa Park do that. We struggle to unlock them. Away from home, teams tend to have a go at us which gives us space to hit them on the counter. Hitting a team on the counter doesn't consist of hoofing it for Young and Agbonlahor, though. In fact, the obvious target for a hoof (Carew) has been injured for a while, so that tactic wouldn't get us very far. On our day, we play great-to-watch football. Our Achilles heel is that when teams just defend, we struggle to unlock them.

Surely it doesn't matter. If it gets to court, "Stevie" will just appoint himself judge and dismiss the charges.

You didn't produce much of a result against us, mind, and the chips were down then, weren't they? If you want a team that battles to the end, look no further than us. Bizarre though it sounds, I KNEW we wouldn't lose that match, even with 5 minutes left. I just knew it. We're so resilient. How we didn't win that match, I really don't know. I said the other day on here, we've consistently played well within ourselves this season so far, but we are still fourth or third or whatever we are tonight. If we play like we did most of today for the rest of the season, then we really could be on for a good year.