Troglodyte

Poor finish by oung, but Petrov should have been bursting through for the return ball then - he didn't even get out of second gear.

Let's play Carew on the wing all the time.

Positive start, looking better already!

Although I don't think some players have been giving 100%, I'm surprised at some of the comments here. Well actually I'm not - it's pretty typical.

Poor? Yes.

Disgraceful/shite/terrible? Certainly not, imo. The conditons, type of match etc have to be taken into account, and some people seem to be missing the positives.

C'mon Villa, let's have a better second half and get the three points!

Our formation so far, as it seems:

-----------Friedel-----------

-----Collins-Dunne-Warnock

Milner------------------Young

------------Gabby------------

These refereeing decisions are making it impossible for us to breach their defence. If Carew can't give as good as he gets then he's got no chance.

Agree with that. Although I think Carew's been poor, the defenders seem to be allowed to be much more physical than he is - as is the case in quite a few games. It does seem his head is going down because of this though.

Poor ball there by Warnock. He seems a bit hit and miss today - some good runs but some less convincing moments too.

Decent chance there, nice linkup between Young and Milner.

Starting to get a little uncomfortable now.

With us playing a lot of long ball, we really need more from Carew.

Getting more annoyed with Carew.

Good play by Gabby there though.

Agree with the Collins comments. Brilliant defender. Dunne's very solid too.

Not been impressed with Carew so far, one good pass but hasn't offered much else. I can still see him snatching a goal in a game like this, but he hasn't looked particularly energetic for a few matches. I'm not Heskey's biggest fan, but if Big John's not going to pull his socks up then surely Emile deserves a chance.

Handball!

I think if we can keep defending their set pieces, we'll probably catch them on the break before too long.

Going to watch this at the pub with my Chelsea-supporting mate, so maybe a draw would be the best result! We're definitely capable of getting a result though, but I do think we'll lose.

Looking forward to it though - few drinks in the pub, back home for Soccer Saturday drinking game, then off out tomorrow night. Sunday morning's not going to be pretty.

Not seen Eps 2 or 3, but I'd say that Empire Strikes Back is the best.

Uh, I mean; you sad, sad people.

What doesn't fit?

A dead epileptic.

Economic: -5.5

Social: -3.23

Although I also didn't like some of the 'loaded' questions.

OBE's post in the match thread summed it up for me.

Blackburn don't deserve to win this, but we certainly deserve to lose it.

We've left ourselves with one lonely midfielder who is expected to control the game, despite the fact he's a player of very limited energy.

We have two wingers who are at their best as attacking forces who seem unsure as to whether they should be playing as Ryan Giggs or Roy Keane. They've been confused like the rest of us by our line up and substitutions.

We have one centre forward who is in great from as a lone striker alongside a John Carew who hasn't sprinted for three weeks and looks about as dangerous as a bag of leaves and Emile Heskey who scores once in a blue moon.

To win games against ten men you first have to have some semblance of control of those games, to do that you need more than one man in midfield.

We've got better players than Blackburn and they're more than capable of winning games like this, but our manager has lost this for us today through a combination of his own ego and how clever he'd like us all to think he is and his spite over having that pointed out to him by anyone else, be they fan or player.

He's a very good manager indeed, and we might still equalise in this game, but in some ways it might be better if we don't.

The answer to why we'll lose this game will be in the there in the tape. I would suggest the manager watches it on his own.

Absolutely spot on. Well said, OBE.

For ****'s sake.

If it cheers anyone up, the unwashed just equalised against Bolton, only to go 2-1 down again shortly after.

3-2-2-3?

Put Warnock CM?

With Gabby, Carew and Heskey we should be able to out-bully Blackburn in the attacking third now.