Sani

screw the refs and this pathetic piece of shit defence. screw you very much.......

What a shame for Herd, hope that assistant ref gets suspended for quite some time. Zog and Hutton have been shit again, pity about how refs ruin every other game in the PL these days, we were on top until that horrible decision.

Don't think Ireland deserves to be dropped, especially for someone like N'Zogbia who hasn't showed any quality whatsoever so far. Hope it pays off! Glad to see Herd getting the chance instead of Delph though!

Nobody laying in Ireland, good news, perhaps he IS becoming a decent player for us.

Cant believe McLeish taking him off. Only player looking decent going forward and he subs him for one of the biggest flops of the season while delph and heskey stay on? Im tired of these clueless managers

Loved how he laughed when Ferdinand tried to put him off before scoring the penalty, no nerves at all there!

I was annoyed at one point, when we made that really quick breack and we were 3 on 2 or 3 on 1 i think, Ireland was bursting through into the space and I think it was Gabby who should have fed him, but instead tried to be Ashley Young and dilly dally and failed miserablt. At that point Ireland would have been one on one with the keeper and would have probably scored to set him iff.

Agree, but same thing with Albrighton when Weimann was in the clear and Albrighton decided to do it himself and did **** all. Albrighton is probably the most selfish and unaware player we have, never looks up and spots a teammate in the clear. His crossing might be decent but thats when putting it into a crowded area

Hutton: 3, Bloody awful, especially when you see L Young playing for the opposition being a million times better in defence and attack.

I agree with all you wrote in that post but this? All of our good attacks came down Youngs side and he was dreadful defending, even Warnock had acres of space every time we attacked that side of the pitch.

Considering the amount of shouting done by McLeish in the first half, there is no chanca that abysmal performance, zero pressing and awful everything had anything to do with his tactics. Actually, at one point in half time on swedish tv, pontus kåmark (ex leicester) said the players dont like his tactics at all and that this is a big problem (apparantly he knows someone?)

Much better second half, knew as soon as Sky gave Dunne MOTM he would do something bad...

Bad? Lol, are you blaming dunne for that? Collins fault!

I bloody hope this lad is as good as everyone is saying he is, the weight of expectation on him is enormous.

hes not richard, hed be dominating games by now if he was 'that' good. Probably a decent player that we will be grateful for. Just not the world beater we desperatelty need. Hope Im wrong

Dominating games? How many 19 year olds are dominating anything in the premier league? That would take some class, world class, and no one is saying he is.

Alex Mcleish after Newcastle said:

“I know that at the end of the day Villa fans crave exciting dynamic football and they want to see their team picking up points and myself, my staff and my players have got to provide that for them.”

Talk about full of shit. Sounds like we're seeing the same old turgid crap despite a change of playing personnel. This tells me that the players may not be the problem.

What significant change apart from young and downing? who the hell expected us to play better without them?!

- Dunne & Collins did okay apart from Dunney losing Best for the goal

It was still offside

Watched it on TV at Rococo and he was onside as the ball was played.

So was i and after several replays, even swedish commentators agreed it was offside. i guess well have to agree to disagree

- Dunne & Collins did okay apart from Dunney losing Best for the goal

It was still offside

Ireland - ?: Who?

Glasses anyone? Made some great passes, for example the one where Taylor **** up and Bent missed the lob. Also tracked back well two times with good tackles.

McLeish will never bring any silverware of success to this club. Whats up with the negative tactics? We look good when playing proper football so why do we stop doing that for large spells of every match so far this season? Only after Newcastle scored, we started playing again.

Albrighton and Ireland changed the game, like they did at Everton. Delph, Nzogbia and Bent were abysmal. Hutton doesnt look good either.

Given world class today, Warnock very good defensively second half and Dunne good again, Newcastle goal was offside.

With the draws, we look like this seasons Fulham. 34k today, many left the game early.

Weird game. Everton shouldve buried it by half time, but the first 20mins in the second up to Delphs stupid foul, we were good.

Good:

Dunne, Given were immense. Bannan good but so weak defensively. Great Albrighton cross, Ireland actually gave it a go for 10mins and good to see Gabby scoring again. Brilliant goal by Petrov!

Poor:

Hutton. Wtf was that? Delph for that stupid, stupid foul but otherwise he was not poor imo. Warnock is still crap, Collins too weak for a player his size and NZogbia looks like a flop already. Bent is lacking service but his poor first touch isnt helping and neither are those stupid runs where he is 99% offside.

Oh, and ref was crap. For both sides

Kevin Strootman, Holland v Finland

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikGghgNpDzE

We are slowly turning into a boring ex PL team called Birmingham....why the hell was he playing in almost all pre season matches if he wasnt going to be in McLeishs plans?

Er perhaps so he could see him play and make a decision on if he wanted him to be part of the team this season.

Seems fairly bloody obvious to me.

Oh, so gets loaned to a league thats not even close to PL in terms of quality or style? Why didnt he just give him a chance in the league and then decide? What was the point when he was playing well in preseason to drop him and then ship him out? Nothing about this makes sense

Well forgive me for not trusting a manager who sees Heskey as a good choice for some kind of attacking midfielder....

You asked why he played him in pre-season only to ship him out. The answer was to look at him and make his mind up about him which he has clearly done and then he has shipped him out. That makes perfect sense even if you don't like it or are unable to see it.

That Greek football is nothing like the Premier League is kind of the point isn't it. As for why not give him a chance in the PL because McLeish doesn't want him, he is the manager its his choice and we I presume can't afford to waste money on wages for a player not in the managers plans.

We are slowly turning into a boring ex PL team called Birmingham....why the hell was he playing in almost all pre season matches if he wasnt going to be in McLeishs plans?

Er perhaps so he could see him play and make a decision on if he wanted him to be part of the team this season.

Seems fairly bloody obvious to me.

Oh, so gets loaned to a league thats not even close to PL in terms of quality or style? Why didnt he just give him a chance in the league and then decide? What was the point when he was playing well in preseason to drop him and then ship him out? Nothing about this makes sense

We are slowly turning into a boring ex PL team called Birmingham....why the hell was he playing in almost all pre season matches if he wasnt going to be in McLeishs plans?

It is easier for him to play well for manure. When at villa, other teams knew that all they had to do is to mark him and downing out of the game and villa were hurt. Not easy when hes playing for utd where other team has 5-6 other world class players to track, look at the amount of space hes given. Mind you, his crossing and corners are still abysmal...

the good:

herd

gabby

most of the defence

the bad:

why is heskey playing, what is his role?

zog looks frustrated and soon pressure will get to him

mcleish. piece of shit subs today, clueless

warnocks left foot. poor passing, crossing

delphs stupid sliding tackles. will get loads of yellows this season

the lack of quality in the team is already showing

Norwich 0-4 at home vs mk dons......

21,058 turned up for this, poor crowd (as in i feel sorry for them)

Ireland somehow glances a header wide from eight yards out after one-two with Albrighton