PaulC

I'm sure if Lambert thought he was a liability he wouldn't pick him

Yes to be honest they were dreadful today. If they defend as bad as that against us we should have a field day up there.

Away from the sacking debate, I like how Lambert in the last two games now has handled the post match interview - on Monday he made sure that he highlighted Lowton's performance as Benteke obviously would steal the headlines, and today he made sure to mention Westwood straight away before talking about Gabby.

 

Good stuff.

Yes I totally agree. You feel that the players really want to play for him. Although he doesn't come across too eloquent, I think he's a pretty smart man.

Yes but the odds of all those scenarios happening are slight hence the odds. Bookmakers don't give anything away.

Would have been harsh if he of been sent off. Ref got it right! Bassong should have been booked as well for his part.

We have won more away games than Everton this season

First half admittedly poor. But second half we were the better team! Benteke's one-on-one, Gabby's chance from Benteke's clever flick.. Weimann's sitter from the counter attack. Plus Weimann messing up that opportunity in injury time. He was poor today. Gabby MOTM. Great assist from Westwood too.

Even when he's off his game he still makes those runs so he's invaluable to the team.

Seriously. Drop him for the next 2 games. Lichaj did well today coming on for Lowton. He won't be as much of a liability as Bennett. Let him play LB. We're still not out of it, and the ease by which players brush past Bennett is harrowing at times. 

 

There's a good player in there. He just needs to bulk up a bit. 

No Bennett has figured in all our good performances lately. No way should we pick a right footed player on the left.

Overall he was pretty sound but he's made a couple of errors of judgement  in recent games. Guess we would rather him come out and get the ball rather than leave it like for the United first goal.

I would imagine it was just a dead leg thanks to one of Grant Holt's many fouls.

Indeed Holt got away with murder today!

Yes those 4 defeats were, Arsenal, Man City, Liverpool and United and in three of those we might have snatched a point.

 

 

Wishing to see one's government put it's own people first doesn't denote fear or hatred of foreigners, any more than wishing to leave the EU makes one a racist who hates Europeans. It's that misuse of language in favour of reasoned argument that is creating the space for UKIP to thrive.

I'm not sure how you can post that (without a mischievous smirk) in the face of the evidence of how UKIP put forward their case on immigration (and not just in the odd leaflet for which an individual - say Woolas, for example - might be accused of cynically playing upon immigration fears to whip up the electorate in one particular area/constituency).

I cannot see how you (or anyone else) can seriously argue that for them to couch it in the terms that they do (e.g. to talk about what is the entire population of both countries whose status changes on Jan 1st) is not intended to make people fearful (of these two countries' nationals and by extension any other immigrants - especially when they also say in the same leaflet, "Proposed new housing developments are due largely as a result of mass immigration from within Europe").

 

If they said that 29 million people from R & B will have access to the UK from 1st of Jan then that is a statement of fact. Does that mean they will all move here? No. Does that mean they would in theory have the legal right to do so if they wished? Yes, it does.  From what I've seen and read of Farage's arguments he has presented the potential problems associated with a large influx of migrants from these countries in three main ways:

 

1. The potential strain on the benefits system and public services , i.e. health, education and housing.  Are these services not already over strained? Is there money available to make further substantial investments in these services at the moment? I don't think there is or one would assume those investments would already be happening.  If someone from those countries comes to UK and claims they are self employed and looking for work then they can access the benefits system within weeks. That benefits system allegedly provides a level of income that exceeds the average wage in R & B. It's not difficult to imagine what the result might be.

 

2. Youth unemployment. With one million young unemployed Britons currently looking for work, is a potential influx of unskilled labour (who will be prepared to be exploited by employers for sub-minimum wage conditions) going to make it even more difficult to get those people into jobs? I think the answer to that is fairly obvious and much like the mass immigration from Poland enabled employers to drive down wages for both artisan tradesman and unskilled workers it would be reasonable to expect a repeat of that situation - while accepting that migrants from R & B will have more EU countries to choose from than Polish migrants did when they came to UK.   I'm not anti-immigration, it is essential to fill gaps in the skilled labour market. I do think that being unable to control the flow of unskilled immigration is potentially damaging to those sections of our society least able to afford it.

 

3. Crime. It is obviously offensive to suggest an entire population are basically crooks, however Farage was trotting out a statistic from the Met Police in the run up to these elections that was so inflammatory that if it was incorrect he would he been crucified for it. In last 3 years there have been 30,000 arrests of Romanians in London out of a total Romanian population of 80,000...That's a staggering number and looking at those figures is it really illegitimate to raise the question of whether we should actually be able to control the flow of people from that country?  If you don't control your own borders then you are not really a sovereign nation. 

 

Very good points. Why is it people think if you are against mass immigration then you are either

Xenophobic or racist, the same as if you are anti gay marriage then you are Homophobic. Neither is true!

 

A Saturday lunchtime kickoff against Chelsea could work to our advantage with Chelsea meeting Spurs midweek.

Don't forget they have the Europa League Final 4 days after playing us too.

 

Hopefully FSW will play a 'weakened' team against us.

 

In that case lets hope Chelsea beat both United and Spurs.

Just assume Wigan are safe and some other sucker is going down. My money's on Norwich.

They showed enough spirit today to make me think they will get something against West Brom. Wigan still my favourites but if they beat Swansea then every team up to 40 pts are still in danger. So that's 8 teams that can still go down...

A Saturday lunchtime kickoff against Chelsea could work to our advantage with Chelsea meeting Spurs midweek.

Need him back for the Chelsea game.

Harsh to pick on him.

Love  you Gabby. A Villa legend

We wern't at our best but we weren't terrible. Norwich never gave us an opportunity to play our normal game. We should have scored a 2nd after we went 1-0 up. Bennett gave a stupid penalty away but it started outside the area so should have been a free-kick

This is about the easiest motm ever.Agbonlahor by an absolute distance

They have just not given us the space to play like Sunderland did. Not easy, could go either way.

He's on 20k a week at present, so guess he will be given a substancial rise.

I look at where West Brom are and I don't think they are better than us. I'm sure Lambert will strengthen the defence.

If we stay up and kept the same side where do people see us finishing next year?

Seriously I think if we keep Benteke we can finish top 8

Can you have a poorer version of Reo Coker?