StanBalaban

Make that 2-0

Fulham's new tall striker is going to cause us a few problems. Put them 1-0 up.

Would Andre-Villas Boas come to Villa??? Or would we get stuck with Mick McCarthy or Gary Megson if McLeish did go?

Thing is it's not about whether he'd come, as Randy would never ask the question.

Villas-Boas has been sacked, you know what to do Randy!

Was just about to say the same. I know we're not in the same cache as Chelsea these days, but look at the expectation from the chairman. Ok, he's Doug like in his hiring and firing, but how can AVB get the sack before McLeish? Does Randy think we're that far behind in the expectation levels that 15th is good enough?

How can they be taking about AVB being in line for the sack and not McLeish?

The only consolation is that the teams below us haven't picked up any significant points, with QPR drawing and Bolton and Wigan losing, plus Swansea's top assist maker got sent off and picks up a ban (even though they comfortably beat Wigan).

I don't think 3 of Bolton, Wigan, Wolves, QPR and Blackburn are capable of closing an 8+ point gap, but it's horrifically close, our football can be ineffective and shit to watch but we know that there is enough quality there if we had a better manager.

What does Zoggy have to do in order to stay on the pitch ahead of Albrighton? I'm actually quite emotionless as the second half performance was utterly predictable. I think we had 34% of the possession and virtually no one in their half for large spells.

Rubbish!!

Fucksocks!

Shape, movement and fluidity have all vanished so far this half. We really need to push up and get them worrying about our attacks again.

What does Eck do to the players at half time??

Any news on the Yak ?

If you feed him he will score apparently.

Doesn't look like he has an injury so he'l be playing, and will probably be fed.

We're in a no win situation I'm afraid boys and girls.

1. We're relegated and McLeish is sacked. Whilst I can see one or two teams putting together a bit of hitherto unseen form, I can't see 3 or more doing it to put us into the bottom three. Plus Swansea are slipping at an alarming rate. So I think we'll be safe.

The no win part comes from if indeed we are safe then Randy is sure to keep McLeish on.

Actually thinking about it, even if we do go down, RL will probably point to AM's record of getting Birmingham promoted. My god, he's the unsackable manager!

Wake me up from this nightmare!

:cry:

I'm having £20 on it just in case

I agree with your point that the fixtures after the next two games are tough to say the least, but one thing that scares me even more is that both Fulham and Blackburn have goals in them (whereas Wigan did not).

Fulham have their new tall striker and Blackburn have the Yak, so I think it will be harder to get points off them than Wigan. That was a huge opportunity missed to get 3 vital points entirely due to the way Eck set us up. Without Keane and Bent the prospect of Heskey leading the line and CNZ and Ireland still being on the bench is too much to take.

The bookies dont seem to concerned

Relegation

Wigan - 1/3

Wolves - 4/6

Blackburn - 4/6

Bolton - 4/6

QPR - 10/11

Swansea - 20/1

Aston Villa - 20/1

So? The bookies base their odds on what people are betting on. Our poor form this season has largely gone under the radar because we haven't really been tonked by anybody (yet). I'd say our chances of going down are way shorter than 20/1.

Will you be putting any money on us at 20/1?

Nice to see Cuellar looking fairly solid again, our back 4 has certainly benefited from having him around. At least the changes enforced through circumstance are doing us a few favours.

True, we have looked a little more solid with him around, but we still give away so many corners. Is there a way of comparing the corners conceded by each team, 'cause I'm sure our numbers aren't normal.

I was saying this last week, I seriously think we aren't that bad at defending corners it's that we concede so damn many of them. I'd like to see a percentage comparison against other teams of corners conceded to goals conceded from corners.

Found what we're looking for....

The columns are:

Team

Goals scored from corners

Goals conceded from corners

The aggregate

The total corners conceded.

As you can see, we're shit at all scoring and conceding. Only Wolves have conceded more corners than us, yet have only 6 goals against as opposed to our 11. We're also the only team not to score from a corner!

ManC... 12... 2... +10... 118... corners conceded

WBA.... 6... 1... +5... 152

ManU... 7... 3... +4... 105

Nrwc... 7... 3... +4... 159

Chel... 4... 0... +4... 86

Evet... 5... 2... +3... 119

Sund... 4... 1... +3... 147

Wolv... 6... 5... +1... 178

Spur... 5... 4... +1... 126

Bbun... 8... 8... 0... 172

Stke... 4... 5... -1... 168

Arse... 3... 4... -1... 98

Lpoo... 5... 7... -2... 99

Fham... 3... 5... -2... 134

Newc... 1... 3... -2... 126

QPR.... 3... 6... -3... 151

Swan... 3... 6... -3... 156

Wgan... 3... 6... -3... 153

Bton... 3... 10... -7... 172

AVil... 0... 11... -11... 173

Apologies for the formatting.

So to sum up, we concede the second highest amount of corners, concede almost twice as many goals as any other team from corners, score NO GOALS from a corner, have no set piece specialist as such, an isolated and no injured front man, shit football and a sever lack of attacking intent and it's not hard to see why we're genuinely rubbish.

McLeish has to go!

Nice to see Cuellar looking fairly solid again, our back 4 has certainly benefited from having him around. At least the changes enforced through circumstance are doing us a few favours.

True, we have looked a little more solid with him around, but we still give away so many corners. Is there a way of comparing the corners conceded by each team, 'cause I'm sure our numbers aren't normal.

I was saying this last week, I seriously think we aren't that bad at defending corners it's that we concede so damn many of them. I'd like to see a percentage comparison against other teams of corners conceded to goals conceded from corners.

Found what we're looking for....

The columns are:

Team

Goals scored from corners

Goals conceded from corners

The aggregate

The total corners conceded.

As you can see, we're shit at all scoring and conceding. Only Wolves have conceded more corners than us, yet have only 6 goals against as opposed to our 11. We're also the only team not to score from a corner!

ManC... 12... 2... +10... 118... corners conceded

WBA.... 6... 1... +5... 152

ManU... 7... 3... +4... 105

Nrwc... 7... 3... +4... 159

Chel... 4... 0... +4... 86

Evet... 5... 2... +3... 119

Sund... 4... 1... +3... 147

Wolv... 6... 5... +1... 178

Spur... 5... 4... +1... 126

Bbun... 8... 8... 0... 172

Stke... 4... 5... -1... 168

Arse... 3... 4... -1... 98

Lpoo... 5... 7... -2... 99

Fham... 3... 5... -2... 134

Newc... 1... 3... -2... 126

QPR.... 3... 6... -3... 151

Swan... 3... 6... -3... 156

Wgan... 3... 6... -3... 153

Bton... 3... 10... -7... 172

AVil... 0... 11... -11... 173

Apologies for the formatting.

Nice to see Cuellar looking fairly solid again, our back 4 has certainly benefited from having him around. At least the changes enforced through circumstance are doing us a few favours.

True, we have looked a little more solid with him around, but we still give away so many corners. Is there a way of comparing the corners conceded by each team, 'cause I'm sure our numbers aren't normal.

Sunderland were properly tonked today. Had it on the other screen and they looked leggy and tired, but MON did make two subs at HT - most unMONlike.

Im writing this sat on the coach outside the DW. That was so so so poor I couldn't rate the players in a positive way. Bannan & Gardner do not look premier league players at all Nd no bent for a while means heskey up front for rest of season. What a **** nightmare

Oh God!!!! With Bent out and Keane returning to the States, I foolishly assumed with Gabby coming back that he would go up front with Ireland and Zoggy getting a run in the team, BUT, as you've pointed out, it's going to be Heskey that comes in isn't it!!

Jesus tittyfucking Christ, I don't think I can bare this much more!

I was looking forward to the game and hoping for an attacking display. Taking on the bottom team in the league that are not known to be overtly physical was a good opportunity to show some attacking flair. Oh how wrong I was!!!

Absolutely woeful in terms of energy, quality and attacking intent. Leaving CNZ and Ireland on the bench is one thing - to bring on Heskey before them is another all together.

I've been one of the more patient fans on here. I've tried to look at the positives and take the mitigating circumstances and having lost our best players into account, but it's the way we're setup that is inexcusable. The benchmark isn't last year's team, it's the opposition in the league and, on paper, our squad is still a comfortable top half team. Unfortunately our tactics and mentality is rooted in the Championship.

Today we neither had shots nor possession. We lacked any self belief and Eck has now lost the away fans. Whilst I think we may have enough to keep us out of the full-on relegation dog-fight, we are in big trouble. If I'm wrong and we do get drawn into the scrap then we lack the fight to win it!

If that wasn't bad enough, we are now without Keane and Bent. What a shit afternoon!

That does it... Not Zoggy or Ireland but Heskey comes on!!!

We've conceded 10 corners to their 3, barely a shot on goal and no subs! WTF is going on?

Wow, this is a shit game

We need CNZ on early in the second half for sure. Such a lacklustre 45 mins!

The fact is, we're good away and they're shit at home.

Come on Villa.

No we aren't. We are just better away than at home. Which isn't hard as we are utter shit at home.

Don't let the second best away Form in the league put you off a good argument 8)