jonno_2004

Really interested to see this line-up. Will be a bit of a benchmark for me as to how progressive we aim to be given certain injuries.

15 hours ago, peterms said:

Seriously?  You'd find it "comical" to see someone vastly rich use our extremely weighted libel laws used to crush someone who couldn't remotely defend themselves?

Sounds rather like the squire having the footman whipped for insolence.

If Xia wants to use twitter to engage with the supporters and get some cred by doing that, good luck to him, but he needs to understand that it brings with it the possibility of unpleasant exchanges, unfair criticism, and hutful comments.  Block it, blank it, or don't get in there in the first place.  But please don't use vast wealth to crush critics.  That's not the approach I want to see from my club.

Unable to defend himself? He's a company director, don't ya know..

Trying to position this argument as the rich against the poor is nonsense - Xia has the right to defend his credibility in the courts as much as anyone. Referring to your final paragraph, it's all about context - some criticism over transfers or retweet requests of Jimmy Savile? Ok. Accusations of siphoning off the club's assets to Switzerland? Different ball game.

Lesson to be learned for the 'footman' in this case - don't talk through one's hat in a public domain unless you can back it up (and with something better than screenshots of a Companies House director listing). Simple. And yeah, it'd be fecking hilarious.

7 minutes ago, dont_do_it_doug. said:

I think Tony just had enough of it today to be fair. 

That twitter user wants to be careful at this point, he has buried himself in a mountain of libel that he's now desperately trying to dig his way out of. Whether he's on the ball with some of this or not, he's walking a tightrope IMO. He's also incredibly patronising to anyone who tries to discuss his accusations with him, which doesn't help. 

Hasn't changed from the off-topic days then?

Would be absolutely comical to see Dr Tony and his legal dept go after the illiterate IanRobo. Just wasted 10 minutes reading his tweets.

Just now, alreadyexists said:

I know what you mean. I think RDM is working with the tools he has though, Xia has indicated we're aiming on signing a striker so hopefully that will give us more options. Totally agree re Kozak, and I'm really disappointed. I had been thinking that we should give him a chance, but he looked so far off the mark yesterday it's scary. 

As I said in the Trans Spec thread Hernandez would've been brilliant to play along side Gestede, but I think that ship has sailed. 

Don't get me wrong, I've been perfectly happy with RDM so far but think we have enough talent in the team that tactically he can set us up to not just be reliant on someone over the height of 6"2 up top. Anyway, I'll suppose we'll see next week depending on Gestede fitness/signings.

A real good base to build on now and he forms a key part of it. The scary thing is that barring a complete howler, we don't look like conceding too many goals. If we could just find the right balance up front it could be an absolute joy watching the team and who would have thought that a couple of months ago?

My point was is that I'd have sooner rejigged the front line than swapping Gestede (who, to be fair, has looked a lot better in recent games) for Kozak (who was awful). We shouldn't have to resort to that tactically - Gayle is on fire leading the line for Newcastle and he isn't a classic 'target man'.

And as for Kozak being 'effective'..well, let's just say at least dictionaries are cheap nowadays.

Probably my main gripe to date with RDM. Why insist on playing a donkey up front? Desperately need another striker if he doesn't trust Ayew to play ahead of McCormack.

Thought it was okay on the whole. Definitely shows the small town justice system in America for what it is, whether he is guilty or not. I'm definitely not one of the social media warriors clamouring for 'justice for Steven' though. Will be reading the article links a few posts above with interest.

First weekend in a while where I haven't had to think about work. Watched American Idiot the musical on Friday and proceeded onwards to TGIs for cocktails with the missus. Slept 12 hours last night - I can't remember doing that since I was 15! Sad thing is it's 2pm already. Going to fire up the PS4 and hammer a couple of pre-owned games I bought yesterday to see out the rest of the day. The fact the Villa didn't lose too makes it all the better.

And for the record I'd have stuck Ayew up front once Rudy came off. RDM seems committed to having a donkey leading the line.

So frustrating, if we were the slightest bit clinical in the final third we'd p*ss this league - even with our weakened midfield pairing you can see how vulnerable the supposed better teams are.

Would be no surprise to once again see the other team improve in the second half and we concede another silly one.

23 minutes ago, Tom13 said:

Why is everyone laying into him? I don't blame him for wanting to leave tbh. Massive talent and he's never going to improve if he doesn't play.

He was in RDM's plans - he played as soon as he was fit against Rotherham. The article goes as far to state RDM wanted him to stay. It's nothing to do with playing time as he would have that here this season.

Providing he has submitted a formal transfer request and forgoes any daft loyalty bonus no doubt written into his contract by the previous regime I have no issue with it.

He's on £60k a week and was in RDM's plans - it's not about playing time or money. Get this poison out of the club. £60k - what an absolute joke.

10 hours ago, osmark86 said:

we need a wicker man to end our misfortunes. I'll get the bees..

Brilliant idea - I can think of a few candidates.. Maybe 3 at once for extra luck..

Just now, Dr_Pangloss said:

Yes that team. We have better quality than them across the pitch and should be beating them, especially at home. Let's not use Newcastle's sheer ineptitude as our benchmark. 

Of course we 'should' be beating them on paper and save for a stupid goal we would have. The Newcastle result shows that it's not that simple in this league.

He'll take some flak for this one but will learn from it. Elphick should have dealt with it too though.

The encouraging thing is that when we seem to click we look a bit unplayable and the points we have lost have been through individual errors with a slice of luck involved. That should even out over the course of the season, but then again, we do seem cursed by the football gods at times.

10 minutes ago, Dr_Pangloss said:

Poor result, should be turning teams like this over at home comfortably. Still clearly lacking quality, couldn't finish the game when we were on top in the first half.

You mean the same team that beat Newcastle last weekend? We demonstrated in the first half we were clearly a cut above, just didn't put away the chances away. Lessons to learn, onto the next one.

Absolutely mental watching ol' Kryten warm up

All things considered, with the signing of Chester and with Jedinak almost nailed on, we now have a team ready for promotion.

You add the loan of Bamford or similar to that (if it happens) and I would be quite disappointed to not go up this season. Whilst it can be rather judgemental, looking at the team Newcastle have put out the first two games on paper, I would say our first 11 is at a par if not better factoring in those two potential signings. All down to how the team evolves with RDM's vision but I have no qualms with the transfer policy so far.

First time I've logged in since the game. Must say the two big disappointments for me was the lack of tracking back on the wings and Gardner.

Simply wont make it if his approach is to hit first time looping passes any time the ball comes near him. I'm not a Westwood fan but you could see the difference in the way Westwood retained possession compared to Gardner and the pressure on the team eased as a result. Vast improvement needed in the midfield. Read good things from Forest fans last season - surely this wasn't it..

1 minute ago, One For The Road said:

Erm.....

For Christs sake don't indulge him - let's just enjoy the game and the season to come.

Villa fans so loud can barely hear the pundits

Man this thread is depressing and a ball hasn't even been kicked, never mind that it's still nearly a month before the transfer window closes.

Off to watch England hopefully wrap up the cricket before kick-off.

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