JoshVilla

I think that, if Vlaar and Benteke are back (and the latter finds his form again), we'll win. Without them, probably a draw. We're away, and I'd love for us to counter attack in the way that we are capable. Hit 'em hard, do them with some pace and hopefully score first. A win here would be massive for confidence before a couple of difficult games and would help take the sting away a little if we don't get anything out of Arse and Liverplop. We need to turn this around properly now; we stopped the losing streak with a draw and now we need to start winning again before we get ourselves into a really difficult position.

I REALLY hope that he's fit for Wednesday and tears Sunderland to pieces.

Well, at least we didn't lose and we hit 20 points before the New Year..... This putrid style of football that we're playing needs to stop now, it's just embarrassing. I just don't understand it, it doesn't work. When there's a better pass to play, don't hoof it blindly and expect it to land nicely for us, we're relying on luck entirely now rather than skill. It doesn't help to erase the hoofing when our movement is so terrible either. There's no one trying to make space for themselves, just lots of running away from whoever has the ball and running up field, presumably so the inevitable long ball has a greater chance of hitting a claret and blue shirt (before it eventually falls to an opposing player). The less said about throw ins the better, I'd have thought a Premier League team would have such a basic move down by now. In terms of defending (though it did improve in the second half slightly), we're making mistakes that you're surely taught not to make in basic training. Luna really needs to sort himself out. The charm of his beard is wearing off now and it no longer covers up the fact that he constantly is caught out of position and has to scramble back from 2/3 up the pitch, not to mention him constantly losing his man and not marking properly (their goal). Sorry to have a moan, but the fact that we got a point just slightly sweetens it. There are a hell of a lot of problems here that need to be rectified a.s.a.p. If all we have to look forward to in the transfer window is a loan deal, then we need to sort out what we already have very quickly. Playing some football might be a good place to start....

Maybe a new Tool album might actually become a reality next year? Nah, who am I kidding....

If we're down or it's 0-0 at half time tomorrow I dread to think about what the atmosphere will be like. I had a bad feeling that we'd end up needing to pick up points from the more difficult games after throwing all of the easy ones away and that's starting to happen now. Need to get something from this, losing 5 on the trot is a very worrying sign and bottom 3 form, we need to turn this around before extra pressure builds. Lose this and we're looking down again, not up.

We're gonna get torn to pieces. We couldn't break down Crystal Palace and couldn't shut them out, so I fear that Swansea will have a field day. Lambert should really be playing for his job now. 2-0 Swansea. I don't often predict losses but, after today, I can't imagine anything else.

Struggle to care whether we beat the Giants or not. Maybe a loss will reinstate the point that Shanahan and/or the rest of the coaching staff need to go. Here's to next season eh?

I don't know what's happened to him. He can't do anything at the moment. One of the standouts of last season, now I dread to see him in the starting line up.

Didn't deserve to win. That's essentially my last ounce of optimism sucked out of me. This is unacceptable. Add Crystal Palace onto our ever growing list of terrible teams that we can't beat. A draw would have been bad enough, but to lose this, that's just absolutely atrocious. Something needs to change for the better, and I don't really know what that is really but I guess quite a few people do. We are awful, not just at home either, we're struggling to do this away too. 4 defeats in a row whilst also playing Fulham, Stoke and Palace. Terrible. Those Arse and Man City wins don't feel so sweet now.

Dominating possession, but don't quite look like scoring. I'm a little worried that we'll get beaten at our own game and get caught on the counter. If that ball had gone in at the end then things would be very different going into the second half. Bit too open the moment, need to get this goal and quick...

Agreed. I think that Kozak will gradually become more and more comfortable in the league and I think he'll continue to develop as an effective striker. If we build a team around him with plenty of width and the ability to put in some good crosses/final passes, he could end up racking up a decent amount of goals.

A lot of 'classic' metal bands that I used to like because I thought that I had to, back when I was first learning to play the guitar and play in bands. Now, while I have respect for certain bands and what they did at the time, there's a hell of a lot of bands nowadays that write outstanding music that stuns me a lot more than the 'classics'.

Can't lose this, and we can't afford another draw against a team like this when we should be winning. They're not one offs any more, we've done it several times and we need to pack it in if we want to push for a decent finish. I'd go something like this: Guzan Lowton Baker Clark Luna Bacuna Delph Sylla Albrighton Gabby Kozak Something like that perhaps? Of course, the usual, Vlaar in instead of Baker if he's fit. I know that defence isn't exactly the strongest, but I don't really know what the other options are, as I think Baker at LB doesn't really work, so unless Lambo puts Herd in CB and moves Clark to LB, I'd go with what I've put, with creating chances in mind. I don't care how we do it, just PLEASE get the 3 points here, we need them to make up for 3 awful performances.

We don't deserve to win this. Embarrassing defence.

Morris is a beast.

Come on Skins ffs

Said it before, I like him and I think he's a very useful signing. We played like balls, but he still grabbed us a goal, which he has a habit of doing. That's pretty handy.

I usually try to stay positive on here and realise that, naturally after a defeat, there's a lot of pessimism and over-reacting, which is understandable as football fans, but after that, I really do struggle to be optimistic and defend it. This season, we've failed to beat (in terms of team we always look to be beating) Newcastle, Hull, Sunderland, West Ham, Fulham, West Brom and Stoke, which is pretty worrying if we're aiming for a top half finish. We look poor in possession, as though we just don't know what to do with it. Very few of the passes that I saw today looked tidy and comfortable. It's as though we're just about managing to keep the ball, and we always look under pressure even when we're not so much. The defence is an absolute shambles. I have absolutely no idea what the hell was going on for their second goal. When you're playing Stoke and the only goal that you manage wasn't created by us at all, then something is definitely wrong. The style of football we play just isn't really working. The counter-attacking thing occasionally does when we're looking sharp but this incessant hoofing and swinging blindly at the ball just isn't doing anything. It's luck that we even manage to keep possession when we do that. The amount of times that I saw us take a swing at the ball rather than chest it down and try to control it was baffling. It feels as though we're happy to ride our luck and go for a dirty victory rather than actually try and play some football and create something. High tempo is good when it comes to counter-attacking, but I just feel as though we rush everything. We have no one to calm things down, except for Vlaar in defence. Something needs to change in January. This whole "young and hungry" thing, buying players who are good "prospects" is all good and fine if you have some calm heads in there to steady things. It's a strong foundation we need that will allow these young players to develop, one or two experienced players to give the others someone to look up to. I know that we're trying to balance out the finances, but some money needs to be spent (or, if I rephrase, spent wisely) if we're trying to be ambitious and climb the table. It's a difficult thing to say, because I know that Lerner just isn't going to give Lambert those kind of funds, but I don't really know what to suggest. I like Lambert and I like that he's trying to build something here, but it'll be difficult to carry on thinking about the bigger picture to put things into perspective when I watch what I just have. Let's hope that we can pull something out for boxing day and start to actually put some valuable points on the board.

Cardiff giving it a pretty good go at Liverplop. Fans singing "Feed the scousers, let them know it's Christmas time" was a bit of a highlight Edit: Nevermind....

Loving how wound up they're getting about this whole library thing. They can't get their thick inbred heads around why the library hasn't chosen the colours of a relegation/administration threatened tin-pot Championship club, purely for the fact that it has "Birmingham" in the title. This whole "we were the most recent Midlands club to win a trophy" b*llocks is ridiculous. That cup win is essentially half of everything they've ever managed to achieve in over a century of existence. Is a jammy League Cup win enough to persuade us that they should be honoured instead of a club that's won pretty much every trophy there is to win in English Football? Well done, Blosers, we don't even need to do anything, they'll make absolute tits out of themselves all on their own.

Great news. The thought of a Vlaar & Okore CB partnership is extremely comforting. Having him back will feel like a new signing.

I'd like to see some kind of 4-3-1-2, with Albrighton free to move to whichever side he needs to get some crosses in. So: Goose Lowton Clark Baker Luna KEA Westwood Delph Albrighton Benteke Kozak Obviously, if Vlaar is fit, then swap Baker out for him. I think that, even though Luna had a shocker against Utd, he needs to stay in the squad. Stoke aren't Utd, and it helps actually having a LB playing at LB so we have some balance. With that formation, we'll have some height in there, and a few opportunities for crosses (Lowton and Albrighton). I'd be tempted to try Bacuna as a RM instead of KEA just for some added strength, but I think it should be a matter of starting with that line up and seeing how it goes.

Gonna miss Gabby's pace for this one. I'd be tempted to play both Benteke and Kozak to match Stoke's height, which would help to defend from corners and make it more likely to get something from one. Albrighton should probably start again to whip some balls into the box for them to attack. Vlaar returning for this would be massive, and having Delph back is going to help us out big time.

We need you, Ron!

Cousins not doing a bad job today. I still fully expect us to lose this game despite being in front, but it's nice to see him taking his chance.