El Zen

Trying our best to gift them another.

Ref! FFS!!!

Subs, please!

Get your heads straight, Villa.

We WILL break them down.

Ref has been terrible. Should have had three or four free kicks leading up to their goal, most obviously for Brunt’s shove on Mings; Johansen alone should have had about five yellows, and Brunt should have been off for trying to kick SJM’s off.

Butterflies making their arrival.

I can’t complain about the team. I like that Green replaces Albert, probably would have kept Whelan in (assuming he’s rested and 100 per cent) but it’s 50/50 between him and Conor, really. Must mean we expect to have a lot of the ball in their half, and expect them to be less of a threat on the break without Gayle. I hope our midfield three finds the right balance.

That’s not even remotely true.

I’d much, much, much rather be under house arrest at the Belfry than where Defoe is.

The shit thing about today is that we can’t really win anything, but risk losing everything. Go through, and all I get is a sense of relief followed by continued suspense.

You shut your dirty mouth!

Has it been confirmed anywhere that Anwar and/or Elmo actually observe ramadan, even on match days?

I was more nervous before saturday, for some reason (that might yet change, mind you.) Our ability to grind them down and get a result on a less than great day was reassuring, as is knowing they’ll be without their best player (by far.)

I hope so. It has been a recipe for success so far!

Hmmm.

Hoping against all odds to channel the evacuation through the rear exit.

I hate knowing that I’m inevitably going to be horribly sick within the next few hours. We seem to have caught some kind of norovirus, and my son was sick all friday, and then my wife all night. Now, I feel the early symptoms too, and I know it will escalate to projectile vomiting. It is only a matter of time. It’s kind of like sitting on death row (only I have noooooo appetite for a least meal.)

It wasn’t a great performance. Not by any means. It wasn’t a great result. There is still a lot of football to be played. West Brom are pretty good at what they do. They were very hard to break down, and Gayle is a real menace. We dominated the ball, but too often the ball tempo was slow, and our players too often tried to take on three of their guys on their own. Inevitably, they’d get stuck, and we had to start all over again. However, sitting back against the Villa is a risky business, as we will, more often than not, find a way through, if you let us play for a while. In the end, we could have scored even more than we did. So, nothing for the history books here, but it was enough. Going to their place with a lead was the most important thing. I’m optimistic we’ll keep that lead, especially with them being without Gayle.

I think we’re better than them. I think we’ve played better than them today, too, just not well enough to break them down. Yet.

I did. We’re clearly a better team, we’re just lacking that little edge in both ends of the pitch today. I still feel like we could put two or three past them if things start clicking for us.

Incredibly frustrating. No use being the superior side if you’re too timid to take advantage.

I was very confident all throughout the week, but getting up early today, just waiting for the game to start, my cool is eroding at a worrying speed. By kick off time, I’ll be an absolute wreck at this rate.

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