Stottie

Thought we were doing okay in not giving them clear openings but they got a corner and Colo decided to play statues again. They're first to every second ball, but they've not done very much to hurt us. Our pass completion 61%. Lowest in the league for four years. Hoof! Hoof!

Just some numbers from Who Scored for anyone interested. Tottenham have scored 8 from set pieces, lead leading. They also lead the league in yellows, but have no reds. They have the third lowest crosses per game number. Only Stoke and the mackems lower, both teams created relatively few chances against us. Liverpool struggled to do much with their little width last time. Conversely, high cross number teams like City, Palace, Norwich, Southampton all cut through us very easily. Spurs also appear stronger down their left than right. Fifth highest in average possession. Liverpool are sixth but I think Coutinho and Can were big misses there. Aside from the numbers, Kane vs. our CBs. Last week was blip-esque, so back down to earth this week. Maybe 2-0 to them, one from a set piece.

England loses an almost four point gap once 11/12 is replaced with 15/16. The current gap is three points, with the points for 15/16 level at the moment. Another two point gap goes next year when 12/13 stops being counted, and then again the season after. http://www.uefa.com/memberassociations/uefarankings/country/ I don't watch much European football, but you'd expect Roma to go through and probably Arsenal to go out tonight. Juve could also go further than City and Chelsea, based on experience alone.

It would be great if Leicester qualify, don't get very far (well, they won't be seeded and will probably get a tough draw), and it works out as the final nail in the coefficient coffin sending England below Italy and down to three places. One reason England's coefficient has been falling is that English teams don't take the Europa League seriously, so it will be just desserts.

That advert with the dog really winds me up.

Wigan with their 3-4-3 beat everyone, and I seem to remember Pulis getting some big scalps at Palace. Leicester last season had the best turnaround of anyone, getting seven wins and a draw from nine games, though it was practically all favourable fixtures. They went from bottom and five points off safety to walking-the-league form.

To get 37 points (which doesn't guarantee safety), Villa now need to rack up points at the same rate as a team that gets 53 points over a season and typically finishes 8th or 9th. They need a miracle.

I was fearing the worst, then I saw Coutinho was out and they were playing both Lucas and the Welsh Xavi. A nothing midfield to rival our own. I was tempted to post on here that we might do all right but didn't want to jinx it. Poor, scrappy game on the whole, but we competed much better and got some luck. Shocking miss by Benteke first half, our deflected goal, and their disallowed one. Liverpool hardly worked Eliot all game though, so I doubt neutrals would have much sympathy. I haven't see the stats but was it two goals from one shot on target? There is still plenty of work to do.

Just when you thought the club couldn't lower your expectations any further....

I thought the same, albeit with him as a right mid with a right back behind him, not as a wing back with us playing 3 CBs. We can't be any worse at 4-4-1-1 than we are at 4-2-3-1.

If we're still spending more than other teams, it doesn't matter if they are Carr's tenth or eleventh choice. He should get us players that are better than other teams. He should also get us players for the positions we need. Watford managed to sign most of their squad in the summer and they have twice as many points and are organized/professional enough to concede half as many goals.

With the squad as it stands, 10 With our position, the other contenders, and McClaren talking about new players as if it would be natural for him to get them, 8.5

I wonder how many times we've defended it in training.

Aye a hoof that Colo watched, and Conor Wickham had time to hesitate and half miscontrol. Some "tactics".

Has Ayoze touched the ball?

Being done by Conor Wickham ffs. This is rock bottom.

Cacapa struggled with basics like the bouncing ball too.

If there's a whip-round to pay for it, I'm in!

This is like watching under 9s football.

jammy twats

TAKE THAT YOU SMARMY BASTARD!

Needing a reaction, he goes for Cisse. Christ, this could be painful.

We were poor against Bournemouth for sure. Based on quality chances created though, I would have said we were more unlucky against Stoke than lucky against Bournemouth, so its swings and roundabouts. If that's the best Bournemouth can do when clearly on top in a game, they will be relegated. I think most people would say we were hard done by against the mackems. So going into last week's game, I thought we could have easily had a couple of more points on the board. Our defending against Leicester though was simply inept. We also failed to create anything at home, while losing, against one of the leagues' worst defences. Based on that alone, you'd have to say we looked like a cert for relegation. There were no positive signs at all.

I wasn't too concerned going into last week's game against Leicester, but it was a huge step backward. Our worst performance of the season. It was much more alarming to me than our current league position. We need to snap out of it straight away.

A better CB than Colo and a better CM than any we have now shouldn't be that hard to find, even in a winter window. I'd be tempted to go to Man U, get Valdez, and give them whatever they want for another player in return for making that happen. Say 10 guaranteed starts for Tyler Blackett or McNair, or Pereira or one of their other fringe players. I think either of those CBs are the finished article, but they'd put much more effort in than Colo.