JB

EVERY SINGLE GAME without fail, for over 3 yrs - Petrov and Milner have looked as if they couldn't stand up after 60 minutes.

What nonsense.

Precisely. Paulanddonya, I don't think anyone has ever stood out to me on this board for posting quite as much bollocks as you do. We're all upset, gutted, distraught or whatever about this result (I know I am), but please don't just make things up.

I may be coming back from the a night out and full of booze (I'm in Australia), so please forgive me for any nonsensical comments in the match thread, but I don't think I've ever seen Villa concede six, let alone seven goals in a game. I'm distraught by the nature of that hiding and it almost proves the negative people on here correct. I never imagined that that could happen to our team. I feel like crying.

Pathetic fallacy with the weather .

You might have to explain that to me I think.

6-1.

I'm sorry, I'm in AUstralia, just got home from a night out which included many drinks and got my literary terms confused!

The most embarrassing performance that I've ever suffered through as an Aston Villa fan. The kind of performance that I'm not sure we can mentally recover from and that should make a manager seriously consider his position.

Pathetic fallacy with the weather .

Never been so **** embarrassed. Disgrace.

That ref was a **** disgrace. Without wanting to sound one-eyed, despite being generally shit, we seem to suffer from that more than any other nation, which hardly helps our cause.

On a positive note, that was a much, much better performance from England. Just a little more composure from Ashton on his debut and we would've won comfortably. I'm not normally his biggest fan but the decision to take Tindall off was baffling. He was at the centre of almost everything good that we did and his withdrawal certainly robbed us of a great deal of momentum. It just shows that when we try and be ambitious, we're an infinitely better side. Although, I'm not getting carried away as it may just have been England's annual "Let's get the fans excited about next year by playing brilliantly, only to ultimately resort to the same old shit" performance that saves the coach's job. See Ireland two years ago and France last year.

I'll start by rolling out the old cliche - well it was a derby...

That said, Jimmy had another one of those infrequent anonymous games and I'm sick of seeing any attacking moves on the right break down when it gets passed to Cuellar. Anything good that he does is done in the box in the form of defence. Please play him as a CB, Martin!

Young was awesome today. Seemed to want to win the game by himself. If he can't get into the World Cup squad with a performance like that, then I really feel for him. Fair play to Carew too, he bust a gut to get on the end of everything today.

In short, it was a game we generally dominated, but just didn't have the cutting edge to win (how many times has that been the case this season?!).

CAREW YES!!! Sidwell assist!

Englands problem is under pressure they resort to how they're taught at a young age - set piece rugby...

We used to play against the RFU Schools all the time (Milfield etc) and they were all taught the same thing - set play after set play after set play - never encouraged to think for themselves.

Therefore, when struggling, they resort to robotic rugby rather than gambling on chances that sometimes pay off, and sometimes dont... But I see no difference in losing by 10 points than losing by 2 - so better to go for it than not...

Totally agree. We seem to have a bunch of players who are unable to think for themselves and play what's before them, as opposed to rigidly following the prescriptive directions of under-qualified coaches. Against Ireland, we seemed determined to try and run it, even though the conditions probably weren't suited to it on this occasion. I'm almost following English rugby just out of pride and stubborness now and feel slightly ashamed to be endorsing the back-slapping and utter shite that we play on a regular basis.

Jamie Roberts hang your head in shame! He royally fecked that up by not putting Hook through on that break to tie the scores. What a try from Shane. Not too upset about the Welsh losing though .

Awesome game.

Five goals, Jimmy back in business, Downing making a decisive contribution (great strike for his first), Young in form, Gabby getting another goal - awesome.

Happy with that. Well done boys.

I think being the main rivals of a team who has eclipsed them in every possible way has made Spurs fans into a very insecure bunch. I know one and he's just the same, constantly giving me unwanted updates on their rumoured transfer activity, spouting useless stats in attempt to prove that they support the greatest, best supported team in the world, nay, the universe.

As I say, a very insecure bunch.

I wonder if Glaston has ever had a girlfriend/boyfriend/beer? Mind you, who'd have the time between dispensing such wisdom on various forums and bashing one out to pictures of Aaron Lennon?

To be fair, United's were pretty awesome in the second half and their possession football was outstanding. I think they were playing for the draw as well to be honest.

What's worrying, as others have touched on, is how a midfield consisting of the players it does can be so uncreative. What about trying to play through the middle? Putting it out to Ash at every opportunity is very, very predictable and not yielding fantastic results. I'm also concerned by the fact that Jimmy, once again failed to turn up in a league game, and Downing's frankly woeful form. Fair enough, he's still coming back from a long-term injury but he simply doesn't warrant a place in the side at the moment. How about mixing things up a bit MON?

Excellent result and a solid performance. We outclassed Fulham but I've still got nagging doubts about the fact that we continue to look somewhat one-dimensional going forward and depend too much on crosses.

Friedel 7 - solid when called upon

Cuellar 7.5 - very much a fantastic CB playing as a full back. Some awesome defending and several crucial tackles and interceptions, but the 2nd goal aside, his distribution was pretty poor.

Dunne 9 - simply immense.

Collins 7 - generally solid.

Young 7.5 - defended well and looked dangerous going forward

Young 7 - constant threat and some excellent skill but generally disappointing final ball.

Petrov MOTM 9 - ran the show. Outstanding. Wonderful range of passing. I can't help but think that his critics don't actually watch us play too often...

Milner 6 - I'd be interested to see his passing stats. He seemed to give the ball away more often than not. Dare I say it, he's been somewhat of a passenger for the last 5 league games.

Downing 7.5 - Looked dangerous and one particularly awesome run.

Gabby 8.5 - 2 great goals and a really hardworking performance. If I were to nitpick, I'd like to see him be a bit more predatory and get himself in the box more often when our midfielders have the ball!

Heskey 7 - Held the ball up and generally linked play excellently I thought.

Quick mention for the ref - he was outstanding.

Watched the game live on tv in Australia after a night out, so apologies if this is less than coherent! Trevor Francis was the co-commentator and I have to say, he was rather complimentary about us.

Very disappointing.

As much as I love him, that's the third PL game in a row where Jimmy just hasn't turned up (not for lack of effort though). We're looking rather tired, one-dimensional, predictable and in a need of a bit of a shake-up.

The Foot Fist Way

The Simpsons now is about as funny as a kick in the balls.So right now Griffin would win by miles.

However, for about 10 yhears Simpsons was brilliant, and if it wasn't for them Family GUy and South Park probably wouldn't exist. So for that reason Homer gets my vote.

I would like to reiterate, however, that the new simpsons episodes are bloody awful.

Exactly what I think. The Simpsons was literally genius during the glory years, and I don't bother watching new ones anymore, so Homer gets my vote.

Cartman may run him close though...

England told to shut up and stop complaining, the ref didn't rob ya.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/english/7912721.stm

England backs coach Brian Smith has been reprimanded for his criticism of Jonathan Kaplan's refereeing in the Six Nations match against Wales.

Smith accused him of not being even-handed with England, claiming he had been swayed by the Wales management.

"Comments that appear to question the performance of Kaplan were unwarranted," said the International Rugby Board in a statement.

"The official review of the match ranks Kaplan's performance as high."

The statement added: "The IRB is satisfied that Kaplan followed the correct protocol for addressing both teams on and off the field and dealt with England and Wales in a fair and professional manner and refereed what was in front of him.

"An official process exists for unions to give feedback to the IRB on refereeing performances.

"IRB referee manager Paddy O'Brien and the Rugby Football Union elite rugby director Rob Andrew shared a very positive meeting on Monday, which makes the timing of the comments regrettable and unfortunate."

Smith had not held back in his criticism of Kaplan, who he believed had come under pressure from Wales to find fault in England's play at the breakdown.

"His whole demeanour through that match, the way he addressed our team in the changing room beforehand - he had clearly had heaps of pressure put on by Wales," said Smith, following the 23-15 defeat on 14 February.

"The way our team was addressed prior to the Wales game took me a little bit by surprise. It was clear to me that Wales had done their job in terms of getting stuck into the referee.

"Fair play to them for doing it. Teams are looking at every advantage they can get.

"What we are really trying to say to the refs is: 'Please judge us the same way you judge other teams and do not come into the game with a preconceived idea'."

England face Ireland at Croke Park on Saturday.

Hmmm, perhaps the view on here that the ref robbed you was a bit, umm, incorrect?

Your views are very, very ironic and somewhat hyprocritical in light of some of the vitriol I've heard directed the referee's way in Welsh games during my five and a half years in Cardiff. Even during the England game this year (which I watched in Sydney), I was surrounded by Welsh guys who thought that every decision that went England's way was part of some conspiracy to screw them over. Face it, every single team will act hard done by by the ref if things aren't going their way. It's not a uniquely English trait FFS.

Lost interest a long time ago. In fact, it's almost got to the point where I find it funny when England lose as the majority of the players are a bunch of d*ck heads.

My interest would/will probably pick up when Barry, Davies, Ashley and maybe Gabby and Milner are all in the team.

Hmm I think it's an 8 for me (7.5 if it was an option). We've filled the positions we needed to and in the case of Cuellar, Davies and Friedel done so with top quality. However, I'll need convincing that the other signings are of the quality we need to get to where we want to be. For some reason I can't quite get in on the seemingly universal joy over Milner but I'm particularly unsure about the new full backs. I can't say for certain, but there would surely have been better options than Shorey and Young out there. I find it hard to believe that the latter is the culmination of our two year search for a RB. The lack of activity on a busy deadline day was disappointing, mainly due to the lack of a striker.

I'd love to have these reservations rammed back down my throat over the course of the season though, and I'm pretty sure that they will be.

Hmm this is a very tough choice, but based purely on present form, disregarding what happened over the summer, I'm going to have to be controversial and say Barry I think. Petrov has been consistently excellent so far this season, and NRC was fantastic today, so I don't think either can be dropped. Barry, on the other hand, hasn't quite been himself. Gave the ball away far too much today I thought.

I do keep changing my mind though.

What I want to know is which jokers said Ashley Young?!

sometimes people need to actually make a decision themselves, this is one of those times

You make a shit choice, tough, you'll have to deal with it, its called a life lesson

Ridiculously harsh and strange thing to say I feel. Surely this is a time is his life when advice is particularly needed, as the choice will have a direct impact on his future.

Anyway, if you're thinking about a career in journalism, it's a no-brainer surely? I'd say that combined English language and literature is a must. As Chindie said, unis and employers generally hate Media Studies or whatever it's called.

Probably shouldn't tell you this, but I know some sneaky **** who just did English Language (A Level and degree) and on any subsequent CVs, application forms or whatever, put it down as English, which most people presume is the combined one. That's an option for you :winkold: .

Well I've just qualified as an English teacher, so I'm bound to be biased! But seriously, unless you're considering doing Law at uni, I think you should do English. Is there any chance of doing combined language and literature? That's what I did at A Level and what unis and employers prefer, I believe. Just looks a bit better. My English A' Level has helped me a lot, both in my further education and subsequent employment.

They do offer a joint language and literature course, but I decided on language because a) I might need the spare space to re-take GCSE Maths if I fail to get a C and because it interested me more than literature.

Fair play mate. Those are both pretty good reasons. The only thing I'd say is that I've heard that some people can look at English Language with a bit of snobbery, and just plain old English is a little bit more respected. Shouldn't think it would matter too much though.

Whatever you choose, I'm sure it will work out for the best .