Troglodyte

He was booked for kicking the ball away. Reina was, so at least it's consistent.

Could have really done without NRC getting booked.

On BBC online: Reckon he is ignoring the fans?

Let's win this, Villa.

As happy as I am, let's not get ahead of ourselves. They're going to come flying at us in the second half, and I can see the ref doing them a few favours, too.

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES!

**** yes.

I'm not sure what channel I'm watching on this stream, but I want to kill the pundits. They were just discussing how O'Neill hasn't improved on O'Leary (even though we were almost relegated by the end of his tenure). The guy then said O'Leary finished fouth, and also clearly hasn't done any research: "I don't know what sort of team they put out against Rapid Vienna." He can't even say Agbonlahor ffs.

I'm not sure what channel I'm watching on this stream, but I want to kill the pundits. They were just discussing how O'Neill hasn't improved on O'Leary (even though we were almost relegated by the end of his tenure). The guy then said O'Leary finished fouth, and also clearly hasn't done any research: "I don't know what sort of team they put out against Rapid Vienna." He can't even say Agbonlahor ffs.

C'MON VILLA

Don't think there is an op for this - anyone know this for sure? Fair enough if that's the case, but surely he could still do with giving it some time to recover?

Anywhere reporting the official reason for Carew's absence yet? Is it actually still (supposedly) flu? Oh dear, I'm almost finding myself agreeing with the conspiracy theories. edit: Ah, okay, virus it is.

But it's clearly affecting how he plays, and he's had to be substituted because of his shoulder recently. He obviously needs an operation.

Who are you, Mystic Meg?

My grandad went before me and said that the locals were horrible; always aggressive and he saw them fighting with machetes etc. I personally found the locals generally extremely friendly. Yes, there are people after an easy victim, but this applies to most places with a high level of tourism. Jamaicans, to me, were just as laid back and cool as I expected.

I went there when I was younger. Loved it. I'm a massive Bob Marley fan so it was like heaven for me! Anyway, Dunn's River Falls was brilliant but I had the problem of the 'safety precaution' that they had to take meaning that everyone climbing up had to hold hands. Unfortunately, I had two huge black American women behind me (bear in mind I was a skinny 13-or-so-year-old) and didn't find it safe at all when I kept getting dragged down as they slipped or tried to use my arm to pull them up! As for cheap places to stay, I'm not sure. We just stopped in Montego Bay, which wasn't cheap but obviously at that age it wasn't me who wasn't paying for it.

I think we were very poor. Hopefully, we'll be a lot better when Carew and Downing are fit. We should have one or two more defenders in soon, too. For these reasons, I certainly won't be one of those calling for MON's head, although I do think something seems to have changed. It appears - so early in the season, too - that we have no drive, desire or determination. There's time left though, so I just hope we can change it around. At the moment though, I'm not too optimistic, and see a potentially very mediocre season ahead.

Awful.

Is it me or do commentators ALWAYS refer to Sidwell being an ex-Chelsea player?

Impressive atmosphere.

Right, I had a bit more money in my betting account than I realised, so I've stuck £30 on us winning to make it a little more interesting! Essentially, prepare for disappointment.

I think we could do well in this competition, so I certainly don't want us to get knocked out. And it's nice to see Villa play against opposition from around Europe. I certainly didn't wait ten years for us to earn regular European football again just to decide that I'm not bothered about it. I also think we have a deeper squad this year in terms of quality (certainly once MON makes an extra couple of acquisitions, which I'm sure he will) which will stand us in better stead when competing on more than one front.

As well as some basic French, I can speak quite a bit of German - more than your typical 'ordering a beer' stuff - and got an A at A-level. Wouldn't say I was 'fluent' at all, though. I'm constantly telling myself I'll try and take it further, but for now I guess it's just the one for me.

It's just not going to happen and personally I don't think it should, either.