chips'ngravy

Totally this. We just got hammered by the worst Liverpool side in my lifetime. As I commented at half time, we were shite, shite, shite. Hogg MotM, but he didn't have much to beat. Time to say Au Revoir, Gerard. Totally agree as well. Was willing to give him a chance and I know it's still early days but there are a number of reasons why there is little hope of improvement. Firstly, the shambolic examples of defending we've recently witnessed can be attributable to Houllier's new philosophy of playing our way out from the back ALL the time. Now whilst I'm all for this style of play the manager takes the responsibility in making the judgement on whether he has the personnel to do that. We quite clearly don't. They were bought by MON to give their all when defending and then get rid. They look lost when trying to 'play their way out of trouble'. If you watch our pattern of play it involves slow square balls played across the back which invariably breaks down when we try and play a probing ball into the midfield. Playing like this does not turn you into Barça Gérard. Another consequence of this way of playing is that it doesn't exploit our assets up front. The likes of Young, Gabby and Downing are at their best when the opposition finds itself stretched between midfield and defence and they can use their pace to run at them. The way we slowly build play negates that advantage completely. The fact Houllier can't see that is a clear worry. The defeats are piling up now and with that the confidence drains away. It's not completely bleak as I believe we still have plenty of top quality players, but this merely puts the spotlight more on the manager. Can he get them playing for him. I'm not so sure. They look confused at best at the moment.

There is a definite feel of a team in decline about us at the moment. It's all very well talking in ifs and buts regarding our points total and league position but the reality is we are where we are and I have scant optimism that we will get anything at Craven Cottage on Saturday, which if so could leave us in the bottom four.

General, Could you please tell Houllier to stop referencing everything to Liverpool every time he does a press conference? It's bloody annoying not to mention disrespectful. Thank you.

Clicky Seems like the General is suffering a rather acute case of verbal diarrhea. I think for all concerned he'd be best advised to keep his mouth shut with regard to (over)reacting to every negative comment he reads on a message board. I would have thought that he would have realised by now that it's the negativity of football based forums that keeps the things alive. And as for Houllier getting scared off by a few negative online comments, if he does he's not the man for the job. Time to duck your head back below the parapet General, me thinks.

NRC is a headless chicken. It's a classic case of someone becoming a fantastic player whilst sitting on the bench. He has no composure on the ball whatsoever. A central midfield comprised of NRC and Petrov is a worrying prospect after having enjoyed a prolonged spell of Barry and then more recently Milner being the pivotal components. We are about to go back to the bad old days of being overrun in the middle. I don't care how many tackles he puts in, if he gives it away straight away then it's a waste of bloody time.

Hleb on his way?

I'm quite happy with the way our squad looks with the fringe players being our good crop of youngsters. That's how it should be and definitely makes sense in a climate of financial austerity. Young local players seems to get people more excited than big money signings and I think the club will ride that wave and to that end Kevin MacDonald would be the logical appointment. No-one can know if it will work out long-term but it definitely makes sense in our current situation. I would agree that Heskey, Davies and Beye are all surplus to requirements. We don't need 4 centre backs if Luke Young comes back in at right-back, plus we have Clark who has impressed both times he's been thrown in. I would disagree that Sidwell will benefit though. He just hasn't got it. It wasn't about systems with him, just poor decision making in crucial areas of the pitch. He can't protect the ball and consequently gives possession away cheaply that leads directly to opportunities for the opposition. A change of system will not change that.

i don't think t he Bradley rumours are necessarily true either. There are obvious reasons why he would be linked but then there are some very good reasons why we shouldn't go for him. The current candidates being linked are all fairly underwhelming and I expect Randy to make the right choice which may mean it takes a little longer than we might think. His approach thus far has been anything but knee-jerk or short-term so there is no reason to believe he will be rushed into the biggest decision he has had to make in his tenure as Villa chairman. Please let it not be Sven though. Boring unadventurous football and the biggest charlatan in the game.

Gotta be a wind up right? Coach of the current world and european champions interested in Villa? If true then **** me that's one major step up from O'Neill! :shock: The football served up would be pretty boring, instead of just boring. :winkold: Well, who knows if this has any legs? I don't, but this is one of my closest friends who knows Del Bosque's agent very well. Apparently, he got a big bonus for winning the WC but his basic pay is well under that of many international coaches so he's looking for a move. Aragónes left Spain immediately after the Euros for the same reason. Whether he'd do any good in England is open to debate anyway. He didn't fare very well at Besiktas. I reckon any decent coach that didn't want to revolutionise the way Spain play football would do well with the current squad of players they have and the style they play, which is why they don't need to pay ridiculous amounts to a foreign coach to dig them out of a hole like we do.

A friend of mine who is close to Vicente Del Bosque's agent says he has thrown his hat into the ring.

We were pretty poor but it was just a friendly so I wouldn't get too worried about it. The only worry is if we have to rely on the likes of Sidwell, Shorey, L.Young and Curtis Davies whe the season starts properly. It seems MON is trying to get rid of them, let's just hope he can.

Hi General, With Randy's announcement that the North Stand development will take place over the next 3 years, when will we be able to see the plans for this? Have you seen the plans yourself? Any inside info you can give us on this? I too am happy with the season and the general progress on and off the pitch in what is becoming an increasingly difficult league to compete in. Well done everyone involved.

I couldn't disagree more strongly with this. He's a **** parasite. Why do you say that? Not going into that in public. So why bother saying something you can't back up?

I couldn't disagree more strongly with this. He's a **** parasite. Why do you say that?

When all's said and done Harry comes across as a decent bloke and has produced an entertaining side at Spurs, so whilst I wouldn't say I'd be happy for them to finish fourth, I wouldn't begrudge them it either. Man City's approach to success has been pretty repugnant and is personified by that smug, classless word removed Garry Cook. I could never back them for anything while he remains there. What an arsehole. Come on Spurs (through gritted teeth)

Liverpool are already financially screwed

As Graham Taylor said to me, one of Martin's flaws is that he can't take any criticism. He's like an elephant when it comes to someone who crosses him. I really don't think his relationship with the fans will ever be repaired because of this facet to his personality. As a clearly highly intelligent and articulate individual you would think he'd be able to understand the fickle nature of many football fans and not take things quite as personally as he obviously does. We all have our faults though and Martin is who he is and most of us love him for it. It would just be a shame if he fell out of love with the club and the fans over such a silly thing.

At least we're starting to create a few chances.

To be fair, Stoke are very difficult to play against. Very difficult to get into any kind of rhythm. whole game plan based around a bloody long throw!

Milner well out of sorts. Another poor cross. Heskey showing some useful touches.

Goal kick when should have been a throw. Ref is so one sided it's not funny. Milner having a shocker. Petrov playing well. God, Stoke are a horrible side.

United have no one to rip him apart though, Giggs and Nani are out. Still leaves Park and Valencia who are more than decent. Doesn't mean they will rip Carlos apart but its not really accurate to say they have no ability out wide without Giggs and Nani. Yes, but rip apart is a massive exaggeration. Park rips nobody apart, good player, hard worker but not a tricky winger. And I can't remember Valencia every leaving the right side. Actually Evra is the biggest threat. Cuellar may have his limitations going forward but no-one is going to 'rip him apart' at right back. Defensively, he's been fanatstic there. In fact i think he's improved his ball play a fair bit as well, and let's be honest, Luke Young is no Roberto Carlos going forward. Last season, I wasn't but this season I'm quite happy with him there.

My mate Man Utd supporting mate reckons: Kusczack Rafael/Neville Brown Vidic Fabio Valencia Gibson Anderson Park Owen Berbatov Rooney has to have a rest sometime whether he wants to or not. The only reason they had such a strong team in the semis was because it was City.

Thought it was interesting to watch Delph tonight. He had some nice touches and looks positive which is something I like even in a more defensive role. He still has a hell of a lot to learn though, as you'd expect. I imagine he'll bulk up a fair bit over the next couple of years and he also needs to learn how to protect the ball more in the way Stan does. He lost it needlessly a couple of times trying silly moves that were never going to come off, that's something I imagine he'll eradicate with more experience though. All in all though I thought there were plenty of positives to take out of his performance tonight. He's certainly at the right place to develop as there aren't many who have failed to improve under MON. Let's hope he's a good listener.

Our approach to this nothing short of embarrassing. i expect us to lose and we'll deserve to. Sidwell doing his best to win it for them again.