BigJim

Fabulous player, agreed, but perhaps most of all we need to sign someone to put those chances away. We can't depend any of Wesley, Samatta, or Davis, for different reasons.

"Smith and Suso have received media criticism for passing on interesting information that protects Purslow. Difficult to work in these conditions. Suso has preferred not to continue despite having one more year of contract, and he told the owners a while ago." The translation is slightly off I think. The tweet doesn't imply that Smith and Suso passed on the information, but rather that information was leaked which protected Purslow and led to criticism for Smith and Suso in the media. That's my reading of it anyhow.

Isn't he managed by his dad? I'm afraid a huge amount of cash heading in the old man's direction if he leaves may be too hard to resist.

Let's all hope they see it the same way.

This is the sort of post I come on here to read. Stops me from falling into deep despair. Cheers Nick!

Need Jack to slip them a message saying he'll only sign for them if we get something out of the game.

IF we stay up, is there a chance the board might keep Smith and fire Suso? Smith hasn't had the support he needed, he could do better with a different DF.

As far as possession is concerned (and that is what I was commenting on), we absolutely did! Look it up if you don't believe me. The game against Liverpool felt a lot closer, and the performance was maybe a bit better, but they still had all of the ball and that's what happens when you have two teams of players of such vastly different ability. It happens all the time in the PL and the result is nearly always the same. It's not being defeatist to say there is a gulf in class - it's simply being realistic. It pissed me off that an Everton fan should presume to say our possession stats were a disgrace right at the time when his team was surrendering all the ball to Liverpool. I know you perceive a lack of fight and it hurts you. I also want us to be able to give any team a game and to fight like lions, and I hurt when we lose just as much as the next fan. We do have fighters in our squad as we have shown like in that game last November. They weren't so much in evidence on Sunday but there are reasons for that and I'm not going to be so hard on them. The team and manager need all the support they can get in next few weeks. It's a pity they seem to have lost the VillaTalk faithful. I see people on here say we have no chance against Wolves, Liverpool, ManU in the upcoming games. There's defeatism for you. I KNOW we are going to be outclassed again, but I still cling to the hope that we can scrape a point or two out of those games. That's what being a fan has become for me over the course of this season, and often enough in the past (and I've been watching them for as long as you).

Pretty similar to Everton's at the moment? What do you expect given the gulf in class between the sides?

Don't you think it matters if scientists are being directed by lunatics to mess around with viruses to see if they can make them more virulent/lethal? I could hardly imagine a practice that it would be more important to eliminate. Obviously I don't know the truth behind any of the allegations floating around. However, I have examined a little of what Mikovits has to say on a number of videos. It is clear that she is vastly experienced in the field and did a lot of important work in her day (Cancer/HIV). She claims she was directed to do this sort of experimenting on the ebola virus ffs. Some people will immediately write her off as "antivacc" because of her claims of widespread contamination but she is not to be confused with the ill-informed lay people who have taken up that position. I don't exclude the possibility that she has gone off the rails, but neither do I exclude the possibility that what she says about being shut down by nefarious interests is true.

What I believe to be a reliable source has told me the plan is for all PL games to be played in June at St George's Park bcd with 2 or 3 games being streamed for TV daily. Players isolated in local hotels (where they will be the only guests) away from friends and family for the duration. Horrible idea, but as I say I believe the source is sound.

Godfrey was captain that day, Curtis wasn't in the side.

Yeah, just another way of looking at it. But if you make an investment and it goes wrong, it's not very productive to just pass the responsibility off onto someone else. Sure, you can do it if it makes you feel better. Look, I'm not blaming the owners in the sense of wanting them out or wanting to yell at them. I'm just saying that if they had appointed different people they may have got a better result. In that sense, they are responsible in my book.

I think we can all agree that the 140m or whatever it was could have been invested a bit better. The question is whether the owners are responsible and I think the answer ultimately has to be Yes. You can pass the buck all you want: "The owners appointed what appeared to be sound football people" "The apparently sound football people bought what appeared to be good players" "The apparently good players need more time to adapt to their new surroundings" and so on. I'm fairly sure NSWE would admit they didn't make the best decisions.

Doug, Randy, Xia, NSWE, probably had/have less understanding of the game than the average fan who lives and breathes football. That's why they hire people who are supposed to know better to spend their money for them. Maybe the chain has been stretched a bit too far lately: NSWE hire Purslow, who in turn delegates to Suso... Who knows what the problem is, but we've been chucking money down the drain for a long time now, at least since Doug's later years. I don't think the record is getting worse, it's just that the amounts are more obscene.

I don't like it but you are right and I am afraid this will end up sinking us.

If only such logic would prevail. But you just know they're going to make an almighty pig's ear of it all.

I would agree about Vassilev and would certainly have him at least on the bench on Sunday. The time is probably not right yet for Barry but it wouldn't surprise me if Smith has toyed with the idea of playing both of them - both as a surprise factor to unsettle the opposition (dream on!) and to provide some sort of an excuse for the inevitable thumping.

OK so we would lose Jack if we go down. But we could always buy him back when we come up again. Couldn't we, couldn't we?

As we've got Southampton coming up, anyone remember the Cup replay at VP in 1969? First division Southampton were the favourites, Villa being in the second at the time. I was in the Holte to see Lionel Martin score the winning goal. Peter Broadbent hit a glorious pass to put Dave Rudge in space on the right, Brian Godfrey stepped over the cross and left Martin on his own to score. Brilliant night!

If keeping Jack meant we couldn't invest seriously in new players due to FFP, then we'd be better off with the money, provided, as you say, we could spend it wisely. I really don't want to believe this is the case though. If we stay up, I think we'll find ways to spend on the sort of players Jack and the rest of us will approve of.

If that were the question, we'd be better off with the money IMO. Is it the question though? If we can keep him, we still have plenty of money, but we may not be able to spend much of it.

I remember Boys' entrance 1/-. circa 1964. (That's 5p for you youths). Anyone else remember that or have I dreamt it?

Seeing as how we've spent nowt on a striker, maybe we can afford one

You never know, he might turn out like that other Spanish striker Swansea had a few years back... (where's that clutching at straws gif)