chips'ngravy

Sidwell been on 5 mins. Given the ball away twice under no pressure. Nearly led to a goal second time. Waste of space.

shiiiiit Sidwell for Stan :/

This is shite Villa. We're playing so pedestrianly that we're just waiting for them to pounce and score

Playing against ten men isn't helping us at all. When we rely on our defence and midfield to bring the ball out and play through the opposition we just can't do it. We just keep playing square balls from one side to the other. Might as well put the big man on so at least we've got someone to hit in the box. Unfortunately we can't play any other way when the opposition sits back and closes the space. On Fox Trevor francis had the cheek to say Nani should have got a yellow! Unbelievable he jumped two-footed off the ground and went over the top of the ball. How much clearer does it have to be francis you knob!

I'd say Dunne and Cuellar at the moment as well. Collins has been brilliant as well so would have no big concerns about him stepping in for one of the other two. The one thing I did notice about him against West Ham was that he was a bit susceptible to being caught on the turn. Nouble did him a couple of times which could have left us exposed. All in all we are pretty well blessed in that area at the moment though, especially with Davies coming back as well.

Didn't he also score in the Fa cup replay against Doncaster last season also? Ah yes - forgot about that one. So - update - is Delfouneso still on the pitch yes or no? He also scored in one of the Uefa games, a cracking volley. Scored our consolation away a Hamburg as well.

Go on the Fonz!

I think you're right. Shame, I'd rather have him than Reo-Coker, at least he has an eye for a goal. Wouldn't like it if we lost a die-hard Villa boy to the Blues either.

I watched the game and Lawro was bang on the money, if that was what he said. It looked too easy for Spurs in the opening stages and it seemed to be a case of how many they would score rather than if they would win. They definitely started to over-elaborate. No killer instinct, the very reason why they will not finish top four.

Cheers Tubby. Nice report. With all this debate between Petrov/Sidwell/NRC, what about Craig Gardner? Do you reckon he's worth a shout in the middle? Always gives his all and has great shot on him. About time one of our central midfielders scored a goal.

Sell him quick! That's another 19 games in the bank before the next one.

Just had a can of Grafenwalder Hefe-Weissbier (Lidl). It's taken the edge of proceedings already.

Good point, well made.

I'm sorry, but it is. Burnley are in their first ever season in the Premiership and have spent **** all money whereas we are supposed to be challenging for Champions' League and have spent big money comparitively speaking. I like Burnley, think they play decent football, but we should be beating them. Simple as.

Might as well take Sidwell off. He's done his job for the day (give needless free-kick away for resulting goal, get booked). Nice one Steve, have to admire your consistency.

Haha....Collymore went mental on Talkshite. Get in!

Just got in. Presumably Collins and Petrov were injured. Is Heskey as well or has MON finally realised what a waste of space he is?

Thanks for that OBE. Nice to know how the next generation is getting on. On a side note....4 quid to watch the reserves! Robbin bastards!

I think you make some very salient points there smokingzen. Last night's performance was incredibly frustrating but not altogether unexpected. Arsenal win game after game in a stylish and attractive manner because they have fostered a way of playing that revolves around passing and moving at pace that enables them to create plenty of space and thus chances. In contrast our gameplan seems to depend very much on what the opposition decide to do. Even in the case where our opponents are considerably worse than us, as was the case last night in the first half at least, we cannot take advantage. West Ham gave one of the most abject performances I have seen from any team this season in the first 45 minutes as they sliced clearances over their own crossbar; misplaced passes into touch; gave us the ball under no pressure, yet we were unable to profit through our own lack of imagination when on the ball. We seemed to spend the whole half in their half of the pitch, yet certain players on our side barely touched the ball. It was, if you like, domination by default. Even our so called strength at set plays was proving wholly unproductive. I lost count of the amount of corners we had. Ashley Young seems to have developed a new way of taking them. Rather than whip them in with pace as was his previous preference he has started to loop them over to the far post. Far less effective if you ask me, yet he persisted. So what are the answers? Yes we need a creative midfielder and yes we need a proper striker to replace Messrs Sidwell and Heskey, but that's not the complete solution. It's the philosophy of how we are encouraged to play that is wrong for me. We need to focus far more on ball retention throughout the side. Until we do that we will continue to struggle to control games even against the lowliest of sides.

The ref made some poor decisions but they weren't entirely responsible for our defeat. We dominated the first half by default. By this I mean West Ham were so terrible they kept giving us the ball. In spite of this we still struggled to make clear cut chances. We have zero creativity in the middle of the park exemplified by Sidwell who must have touched the ball no more than 3 times in the first 45 and perhaps a couple more in the second 45. Like Sidwell, Carew and Heskey were both anonymous. The crux of the matter is that we are extremely uncomfortable when the onus is on us to run the game. We were given ample opportunity to do so tonight but had no inclination to do so. Why? Because we aren't encouraged to treat the ball as a 'friend'. This was no blip, it's been coming. We have to learn how to keep posession, and quick. We are also carrying too much dead wood. Heskey and Sidwell are just plain shit and Carew should be moved on as he's never going to be motivated enough to do it week in week out. He should be up there with Drogba with the talent he has but he just can't be arsed. Sad really.

Guzan = Bozzie '93

I was there in 93 when they pissed all over us and we walked away with a 4-1 robbery thanks to Bozzie. It's fate I tells ye...fate. We're going through!

I think it looks pretty smart as new developments go with the single tier kop breaking from the symetrical lines found at other bowl type designs. One thing that hasn't been mentioned in the new development details is the transport links. I've been to White Hart Lane a couple of times and it's an absolute nightmare to get out of being served only by rail with no tube station. With a a potential extra 20k every game how the hell is it going to work?

Sidwell's had a mixed game, but let's not go overboard on the criticism. He had to make a challenge in a desperate situation, unfortunately he just mis-timed it.

Can't say we deserve the win really anyway.