leffe186

Like the look of Grondin, but Adam has been a revelation.

Blackpool won't be able to keep this up all season though. [get my coat smiley/]

Fucking hell, City are getting a hell of a lot of breaks this year (no pun intended). Started when we should have put six past them in the first 45 minutes of the season. Nailed on for Top Four I reckon.

Under Houiller, Villa going back to what's served them so well. Get everyone behind the ball when the oppo have it, then look to break at speed. Very tough to break down, and Drogba missing makes all of the difference. Can't agree with that at all. We're playing entirely differently. We're keeping the ball a lot better, to start, something we were woeful at under O'Neill. These are early days, but you can definitely see it starting to take hold. I thought we played very well at Spurs, and played very well today in spells as well. Of course, part of the not relying so much on the break thing might be that Agbonlahor, main weapon with his pace, has been out for much of this season so far, so it is less of an option. The results haven't been brilliant, but I'm enjoying watching us far, far more than I did under MON. I say that as one who rarely goes away these days, incidentally, and I'm aware that our hitting on the break game worked much better away from home, but at home the last four years that usually translated to a cluelessness in terms of knowing what to do. Apparently the coaching regime consists of training with the ball - possession, passing, shape - in the mornings and physical work in the afternoon. A few players have said that under MON it was just a couple of hours physical work in the morning, then home at midday - no work with the ball whatsoever. Quite shocking, really. I don't know if the results will ultimately make it worthwhile, and it's not really as simple as "style A is better than style B, end of", but we are starting to play a different style of football. Ironically, our record at home against Chelsea is extremely good, so MON managed to get results in this fixture. Them missing Drogba and Lampard helped, but we were without Agbonlahor, Heskey (yes, I know), Luke Young, Albrighton and Dunne, so it's swings and roundabouts. They still had enough class to hope to win the game. Incidentally, random observation, but Malouda was superb today. That f***er pops up all over the place. He was terrific, trying to win the game single-handedly at times. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that there's not been a change in style from the last couple of years, but that you look more like you did for the first few months of MON being in charge. A 4-5-1, with two central-midfielders sitting slightly deeper, very well-organized defending and pressing the man with the ball, then looking to break with speed. It's noticeable that Warnock has been far more involved going forward. MON had clearly lost the plot, and Houiller recognized that he had a good squad but had to get them doing the basics right (again) first. They ARE trying to keep the ball better, but still had less than 40% possession at home, in a 0-0 game. You can see that as they get more confidence (and he reinforces the first eleven) they will get more expansive, but I'd still guess that the reason ObiChrisKenobi thought it was a horrible game to watch was that for large parts of the game you're watching a well-drilled defence inviting a not-so-convincing attack onto them.

Bloody hell, how did that not go in.

Under Houiller, Villa going back to what's served them so well. Get everyone behind the ball when the oppo have it, then look to break at speed. Very tough to break down, and Drogba missing makes all of the difference.

Hope Wenger saw that.

It's a really good game. Man U donated a couple of goals to West Brom, since then they've been really nervy. It's very open.

Unbelievable fuck up by Van Der Sar. You've got to see it tonight.

Dive by Chamakh, but was a stupid tackle. Hopefully we'll see a massive punch-up in the second half.

Moyes for Liverpool? Would be annoying, but amusing (but not a snowball's chance in hell).

What an awful attitude. You were hugely unlucky on Sunday, yes. But how has your season been derailed? The injury is a blow, obviously, but getting into the mindset of it ruining your whole season is ridiculous. You then, unless you're on the wind up, go on to patronise the hell out of Blackpool and Stoke, who both deserved their wins at SJP. More to the point, it was De Jong who derailed the season, not the ref. I'd happily blame the ref for donating the game to City, but losing one game does not derail you. Losing Ben Arfa might.

Souness.

Did you see the game? How did you guys actually play?

And it's absolutely not like training yourself to hold onto a burning stove, more like training yourself to touch it.

Song bottled it. It is difficult because it is a natural body reaction. When hard objects fly at us with rapid rates of speed, we tend to flinch. It is like training yourself to hold onto a burning stove. Nearly impossible. Only if they come at us unexpectedly. You can steel yourself for free-kicks, plus you have enough time to move towards them.

Terrible wall, to be fair.

What a fucking goal that is.

They've started really well though. Good game this.

Absolutely. The thing that will make football work here is fan culture. Because of the large distances involved and large number of games in many sports, you don't see too many away fans at games. Singing throughout a game doesn't happen in any of the other major sports either. Going to the Crew is great because - in the "singing" section at least - it's more like a game back home. The single thing I used to enjoy most about supporting my team was going away (and winning, of course). A great day out with mates, guaranteed fantastic atmosphere in our end and non-stop singing. The U.S. just doesn't have that same experience, yet.

Fair point. However, I know that when I am watching or playing football, the goal is to win. If there is contact in a dangerous area and the player stays on his feet, it is likely that he is depriving his side of a set piece opportunity. It is simply the smart decision in the situation. This is why players do it. If referees gave out red cards, called fouls when players didn't fall, or were better at deciphering dives, then players would stay on their feet. In the current situation, anyone who doesn't fall is actually hurting their team. We know it's smart, and we know why players do it - but it's still cheating. Aussie Rules tops are called guernseys btw.

I still chuckle when I see Liverpool in Europe and remember it's not the Champions League. Am going to have to get used to it.

Nah, that's handball. Protecting his face and the ball is f***ing travelling IMO. Then let it hit your face. Be a man.

Fuck me. At least we've brought entertainment to the CL.

Will hopefully balance the Alan Smith commentary.