Ponky

My boy saw me pulling a large shrub out of the garden a few years ago when he was only 4 or 5. This has him convinced that I am the strongest man in the world because I can pull out trees with my bare hands (fair enough the shrub was bigger than him at the time!). I cheers me up no end whenever he mentions it. Even if it's not true, my kid thinks I'm up there with the incredible hulk.

I officially withdraw my support for M'sieu Houllier and politely ask him to leave.

22 year old reserve keeper for Borussia Dortmund, Mitch Langerak. The heir apparent to Mark Schwarzer as Australian keeper. Made his debut for Dortmund against Bayern a few weeks back and was outstanding.

Have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it but that was on the big screen and I hadn't seen any of the films that use a very similar storyline. The 3D added nothing other than dry sore eyes that had to squint on the drive home. I know the film got ripped to shreds by many film-goers (largely down to the plagiarised plotline) but, for me, as a bit of visually stunning escapism I thought it was very enjoyable if formulaic. +1 I watch movies for entertainment and escapism, to be honest, and Avatar delivers both of those. I watched it in 3D at the movies and in HD at home and while some of the WOW factor wasn't there on DVD it was still a pretty good way to kill a few hours.

Delph is still recovering from an injury-stricken 18 months and remember he was a relatively inexperienced youngster in his first season with us when he got injured - so he is effectively still learning at the same time as getting his match confidence back. He needs match time and clearly will be rotated along with the rest of our midfielders. I think Houllier will start NRC and Makoun in the next match.

The match should have been done & dusted before the penalty - Bent WTF? Mrs Redknapp would have had a hat trick today! In the end we did more than enough to win comfortably but failed with our finishes. Yes, poor defending for their goals but three 21 years olds and a RB playing CB as our defence - we were always going to concede a few. Time to take penalties and corners off Ashley.

We are getting bullied in the middle. Delph is getting pushed off the ball and a few of our players are missing their passes. Walker has been fantastic though. Even when Petrove goes past him he catches up to him!

What - Walker Young Clark Baker was our back line last season? :shock:

While Kalinic was always going to score against us what I really likes was that we didn't sit back after scoring the first one, even two. It has been a long time since we have stepped on the opposition's throat like we did yesterday.

The reason he swapped both albrighton and downing onto their "wrong" flanks is that both were being played into dead ends by their full backs and not getting crosses in. While it can be frustrating when it doesn't work, arguably Downing is a greater goal threat cutting in from the right and Albrighton's crossing is far more dangerous coming in from the edge of the square, as two of our goals today demonstrated - so I think Houllier got it right today.

Bent had some dodgy moments in the first half but worked hard in the 2nd. Great performances by Pires (MOTM), Young, Albrighton, Downing and particularly Reo-Coker, who anchored the midfield well and whose passing was excellent for what it was. The Blackburn defence was suicidal at times but it is great all the same to see the goals fly in for a change.

Commentator's have were absolutely shitting on Pires for the first 15 minutes but he has really settled in well. Frustrating viewing. Starting to wish we had Mrs Redknapp up front

Hi General Just wondering if there is any strategy in place for promoting the Villa brand beyond the UK (& to a lesser extent the USA)? I would love to see a bit more of a profile for the club here in Australia - eg Mark Bosnich is a TV pundit over here and is constantly referred to as "former Chelsea and Man United goalkeeper". The fact that he was at Villa first doesn't even get a mention because the club simply has no profile over here, apart from Brummie expats and people like me who just adopted a club and decided on Villa. It would be nice to see the club come up with a few ways to "get noticed" & perhaps get a few more people joining the Villa cause.

On a side note - what a grubby, shitty little dug-out for a Premier League stadium!

Also - I just got around to watching the movie at Armadillo cinema - very funny and a testament to the amount of detail & effort put into this game.

We also lose momentum in our forward thrusts because he is constantly checking back onto his left rather than quickly whipping it in.

Pure genius!! Plenty of willing amateur volunteers though - surely this it what the big society is all about. Indeed, how many gay men work in the fashion industry again? As for this lineschick - she seemed to be quite capable of doing her job, unlike some of the chubby, out of condition half-blind dickheads they usually have running the line.

I have had this game for a few weeks and it's the first PS3 game to have me hooked since Oblivion. Still on the initial phase, about to make my assault on Fort Mercer, but really just enjoying riding around and shooting raccoons and taking my time. I generally suck at games that have a high difficulty level but this one really feels perfect to me.

I thought there was a decent shout for it being a penalty in the end and I thought Cathcart went 2-footed on Young in the box and somehow the ref decided there was ball in there. I suspect though that by the end he'd had enough of Young's bitching and wasn't going to pay it no matter what. I thought Dunne was our best today - pushed them back in the air and covered for Clark who seemed to struggle against the might of Marlon Harewood. Downing and Walker tore Carney a new one but the wastefulness of the final ball was absolutely criminal. I want to see us forget about this player in the hole business and go back to a 4-4-2. Left-footers on the left and right-footers on the right. Strikers up front please. Makoun was pretty good up until the red - a deserved red. Bradley was decent - a bit of a headless chicken for the most part. Hopefully he will be better for the experience.

No problem - we'll just tell the Cameroon FA he is injured and then put Salifou's name back on his shirt and keep playing him. If Sparta Pargue can do it...

I have just watched the first season of Deadwood. I can't believe I have missed it it until now! Superb show, IMO, and I for one will evermore be transported to the wild west every time I hear the word "Cocksucker" !

I guess they'll be recalling him from Watford to drive Richard Dunne around.

Been given bullshit bookings on both occasions, so he probably has reason to be scared!

Interestingly enough you seem to be the only person who's unimpressed. But it must be everyone else....

Sidwell on the end of more Villa passes to day than any match in his Villa career!! We are doing alright but really lacking any creativity in the final third. We need either Petrov or Makoun getting forward a bit more to create some pressure.