DeadlyDirk

I remember when John Gregory got appointed, and he was at another club at the time.... it took..... 2 days!

I think its a blessing in disguise..... Hopefully Randy will see that it's niave to trust in youth too much (not making scapegoats of Clark and Albrighton), I would've started with Beye at centre back, purely because he is rather dominant in the air, and can read the game relatively well, going with Ireland in centre-mid was a non-starter for me too, would have rather seen Reo-Coker start with young and Downing on the wings and Ireland playing behind Carew.

The more alarming thing I could see on the pitch was that no-one seemed to be taking responsibility and attempting to gee up the players, they seemed directionless, lacked leadership on and off the pitch, and the result was us losing to a mediocore side, who on the back of todays result will gain some confidence and win a few more games than they would have had the result/scoreline been different. It definatley showed that we need to appoint a proper manager who has managed some bigger clubs before, and to bring in his own coaching staff too, leaving Kevin Mac to carry on doing the job he's been doing for the last 15 years. We looked sluggish, off the pace and berift of ideas in the final thrid. The midfield was totally unbalanced and offered no protection to the defence, hence the scoreline. When was the last time a team in European competition haven't managed a shot on target in a whole game, against a team who had just been promoted to the top flight?

MM - any truth in the light rumours that Barry has been sounding out a return to Villa? (Sorry for going OT guys, and as a gesture you can all have my sister, I hear she's very good...)

Here's another one, but I have no name and didn't hear it myself!

A wolves fan I work with, watched (I think) the Slovakia/New Zealand the other day, and said that the commentator had mentioned that a Slovakian player had "signed a pre-contract agreement" with Villa - according to his agent, but it hasn't been publicly announced yet.... However, haven't actually found any mention of this anywhere so I'm thinking she may have got us mixed with Villareal perhaps....

Their keeper has signed a pre contract at Everton

Ahh, that makes sense, there's a staunch Everton fan at work she works with quite alot so may have got a wee bit confused!

Here's another one, but I have no name and didn't hear it myself!

A wolves fan I work with, watched (I think) the Slovakia/New Zealand the other day, and said that the commentator had mentioned that a Slovakian player had "signed a pre-contract agreement" with Villa - according to his agent, but it hasn't been publicly announced yet.... However, haven't actually found any mention of this anywhere so I'm thinking she may have got us mixed with Villareal perhaps....

Personally, I think if anything happens it will be after the World Cup, and I have a strange feeling he'll be wearing the claret and blue next season, if we do sell him, and rumours are to be believed, it will be for over £30 million, which would be okay because then at least it can be re-invested in the playing side of things. But I'm convinced that he will sign a new contract and stay with the club. If you remember, after his loan spell with us, he was on the verge of signing a permanent deal when Newscatle pulled the plug at the 11th hour, and I remember that he was gutted that he couldn't join us. With this in mind, it would only be a serious career advancement if he was going to go, say to Chelsea......

waiting for a heads up from Mystery Man......

....seriously though, would love to see Keane, Ireland and another striker who is mobile and knows where to run to off the ball!

Well, the way I see it, yeah, the defender gets the ball first, but he also takes Gabby out aswell, who would have got to the ball anyway and would have carried on..... Clear Penalty...

and we are now guarunteed european football next season! Unless I'm being a mong, we can't finish lower than 7th now! Great Success!

Pretty dull game up at Hull (see what I did there?) - but we looked comfortable and the only outcome was going to be 3 point for the Villa. The commentators described it as an efficient performance, I would call it a routine win.

3 points is all that matters, and there where some good individual performances out there, I'm talking about Collins, Dunne and Petrov. Special mention to Cuellar for his uncharacteristic Brazilian-esque flick, then reminded us that he is actually Carlos Cuellar by accidently knocking the ball out for a throw with his next touch. Priceless.

Roll on the the slum dwelling bin dippers... Could be an interesting last 3 games.....

I'm finding the manager mode and the game settings pretty frustrating. Semi Pro is too easy, I find myself turning teams over 4 or 5 nil, but in Pro I can't win for love nor money. Grrrrr!

Deadlydirk

I went for 7, purely because my life is pretty good, except for lack of mortgage and significant other. I couldn't really bring myself to mark any lower than 6 to be honest, because when you look at quality of life as a whole, you need to factor in the less developed countries where the accepted way of life is to live in a hut with no electricity, walk to the nearest fountain for your daily water, could be 5 miles away, etc.

I count us in this country as living in priveliged ways, which sadly gets taken for granted....

Oooh, a political hot potatoe there....

That was one of the most soul destroying games of football I have witnessed, probably because its the first game of the season. The only player I can give any real credit to is James Milner, who ran his socks off. Ashley Young, for all of your trickery and ability to get to the touchline, its a complete waste of time if your crossing continues to be worse than mine. Got too predictable in the end. Looked a little better when Sidders came on, but nowhere near good enough. The squad lacks any real depth at the moment, and the woman sat next to me said it all when she said it was typical that the only striker we could bring on was an 18 year old kid who hasn't scored in the premiership yet to try and turn the game. We need reinforcements now, but I'm not overly confident because we know how long it takes MON to sign a player... Folks, I think we're in for a really long season unless changes are made...

If it was a straight choice between JPA and The Hare, JPA steals it for me, but if he was available to sign then I wouldn't go for it, past it in my opinion, but still better than the Hare....

I wouldn't read into the line up too much, its only a friendly and a number of players (such as the u21's) are lacking match practice.

The thing to remember here is that Steiber no longer plays for us, so I'd be amazed if he travelled all the way from Germany to play at the Kassam, Id be even more amazed if Albrighton, Bannan, Lichaj, Weimann, Lowry and Herd play considering they're off until Thursday with the rest of the lads who played on sunday night - so i'm pretty sure thats just a generic squad list Vital Oxford have taken from somewhere else..... You heard it here first! Wait until the official list shows up from the official site!

It has to be Heat for me....... Incredible film, its a shame that Michael Mann seems to have followed the exact same template for Miami Vice and Public Enemies....

James Milner trained Chuck Norris, but Norris will never be as hard as him....

James Milner once fired Bill Gates.....

Its just been announced that Craig David is quitting the music scene. He's joining the Olympic 2012 Archery Team, he's going to be their Bow Selector.

Have you ever seen these services advertised for women? That'll be a big fat no then.....

Well, it seems that I am just about to join the 2 million. I'm on gardening leave now awaiting a settlement offer. 7 of us where placed in this position yesterday, and the FD of the company has admitted that they cant do it by the book because obviously they cant sack me, because I have done nowt wrong, and they cant make us redundant because there are vacancies at the company, albeit in a slightly different role, so an offer will be made reflecting my salary, length of service (passed the probationary a month ago), and a bit extra because of the situation......

.....The hard bit is finding another job now......

Taken was released in the cinema in the uk sometime in November I think, and you can get it on DVD now. However, it has only just been released in the USA in the cinema, and is doing quite well. Its great fun to see Liam Neeson hand out his own brand of justice on people smugglers, although its quite dark in places.

Watched Southland Tales for the 3rd time last night, and whilst I understand whats going on in it, you still eft feeling "eh?" at then end of it.

Role models is supposed to be good

Thanks alot, I heard it was good aswell & you've just reminded me

Yep, seen it twice, once with my housemate and the other time with my ex, and I have to say, damn its good. If you want to watch a downright hilarious film, which makes you feel quite good at the end, then this is the one for you.