GREAT_BEARD_OF_ZEUS

Whats the chances we have Dunne, Collins, Ireland and Gabby back for this one?

Haha well done Hutton, you do have a use after all!!!

Has the commentator on sky really just had the cheek to suggest that we taught Young to dive???!!!

No we can't. Wigan are a 'plucky' little side with a manager who often gives them license to give it ago despite being against the odds, hence why they sometimes do get results against big sides who underestimate them. We have a manager who sees a 0-0 draw as our most likely chance of getting anything and will set up accordingly.

Houlier did badly because he was trying to change the way we played. Reversing the entire footballing philosophy of the place. He was naive to think he could do it so quickly with some of the dross we've got but at least he tried to do the right thing. McCleish is doing nothing but grinding out one desparate point at a time using a very limited set of tactics.

I'm going to be optimistic and say 2-0 to Newcastle with a lifeless performance from us very similar to the Spurs game. Warnock to get the first obviously and Ba in the second half to finish us off.

Bigfoot and the Hendersons

Watched the first episode of 'Suits' the other night on Dave. Thoroughly enjoyed it!

And equally a players worth can be said to be the amount for which his club decide to sell him for... and i think we'd accept a lot less than some on here would think.

Anyone any idea what the snows been like in Europe recently? Some of my friends have said they've heard it's been pretty poor.

Now you see as much as I don't like his football, that's a good response from McLeish.

Re: Moneyball (oh and SPOILER ALERT at the bottom if you haven't seen it) Yeah I can see why you liked it, it's a good film - and I'm usually a fan of sports films (based on real life or not), but as much as I wanted to I could get past a few things... Firstly, you don't really get to know much about any of the characters other than Pitt and as a result you don't develop any emotional ties to them. For me a lot more should have been made of Jonah Hill's character and perhaps Phillip Seymour Hoffman's too. Secondly, the film naturally crescendos towards proving that Beane's new fathomed way of building a baseball team is a success - fine. So why not make a bit more of the 20 game winning streak? Yeah they focus on the final game when he's in the gym unable to watch, and yeah I know it's used as a way of focusing on that particular character but I'd have liked to see a bit more baseball. I guess I didn't expect it to be so much built around Beane's character and nothing else at the end of the day.

Hollister clothing shops! Firstly I think you have to be a complete moron to queue up for 30 minutes just to get inside (as seen in the Trafford Centre today). But secondly and most frustratingly, TURN THE **** LIGHTS ON!!! When i have been in (when there hasn't been a queue) I have to say that its the worst set up in the world, the tiny spotlights and crap layout mean that you're constantly having to move out of peoples way, plus you can't see what you're buying anyway!!!

Lucky swine!! Enjoy

Moneyball... :yawn:

I can't bring myself to go in there tonight... like some have already said, it's a bad situation with no end in sight. Hibernation in off topic is the only answer.

Yeah but you're not going to change that. Rightly or wrongly that is the natural reaction to the team playing as badly as it is - no amount of reasoning with people on here will do the blindest bit to stop the boos or change the atmosphere at the game. Banners might just make the players realise that the shower of shite they are serving up has gotten to the point where the fans are in revolt. That may spark a reaction from them it may not, but it's more chance than the apathetic mood currently going on. Like I say, it's not that what you're saying is wrong, just that it's pointless believing it will happen.

After todays game i want him back just to see a player who can pass a ball to one of our players!

Completely inept performance! The level of our passing was lower than that of pub football standards, it really was. Back four were pantomime as usual. Pathetic

COWBOYS I do have a soft spot for the Jets though if that helps win back some respect?

Talking about the rugby… I spoke to a Kiwi mate of mine the other day, he said he hasn’t been this worried about a semi since he watched Brokeback Mountain.

Hello General I do not want to get into the childish bickering/insults which have begun to come from some members, but I do have a question which I think needs to be answered in order to end this growing feeling of frustration which is building up amongst most of the fans. Last season I think you will agree was something of a disaster. We as a club slipped from being a top 6 side to one which flirted with relegation pretty much all season long. To quote the fact that we finished 9th is a bit naïve as lets be honest, it took some freak results on the last day to get us there and realistically we deserved to be nearer 15th. Now if I recall correctly you said that yourself, Randy and the rest of the board were extremely disappointed with last season and measures would be taken to make sure that it didn’t happen again. Can I ask what these measures were and whether they have actually been made? I ask because so far I have seen the following: We have sold our two best senior players: Ashley Young & Downing. We have released/loan expired four first team players: Friedel, Reo Coker, Walker & Luke Young. We have sold/released/loan expired on numerous squad players: Carew, Bradley, Pires, Hogg, Osbourne, Salifou. We have replaced a manager who spent the last season teaching the team to play a possession based, passing game with a manager who has no history of managing teams playing this style. Out of those players that have left we have only replaced like-for-like quality in the goalkeeping department. Charles N’Zogbia is a welcome addition but is not as good a player as Ashley Young nor Stuart Downing. We are having to utilise Stephen Ireland, a player that last season was deemed not good enough for the first team squad. We have done nothing about known trouble makers such as Richard Dunne, James Collins and Stephen Warnock. The latter in fact now been given another chance. Now I can accept that we have a new manager (for better or worse) and that he is entitled to reassess the squad and use players that may have not been previously in favour. But no matter how good Alex McLeish turns out to be, I cannot see him being able to perform better than Gerard Houllier with a side that over the course of the summer has become significantly weaker. I appreciate that player wages are too high and need to be brought under control. But I put to you that it is the fault of the board that they were left to spiral out of control in the first place and that the method you are employing to bring them down is too severe. Enforcing a one-in-one-out policy on a side who have lost so many quality players with only a few replacements coming in is surely suicidal. The Chairman is ultimately at fault for this situation and, with the greatest of respect, he must for the sake of the club take the hit until the players with huge salaries are out of contract. If not he risks wasting all the great work he has done so far in re-establishing Aston Villa as a force in the Premier League.

If you bothered reading the article BB you'll understand that CNZ was using football i.e. himself as an example, his underlying message is that hard work pays off and what ever you dream about doing can become a possibility.

Finally I watched Demolition Man on DVD when I got in last night. Forgot how good it was!! They really knew how to make films back then.

Also watched Horrible Bosses last week. Good but not great. Thought it started off well, but tailed off towards the end. The little guy in it who I reckon they were trying to make into the equivalent of Zach Galifianakis' character in the Hangover, I just found really annoying. He over did it with obvious slapstick humour and not enough witty stuff for me. It's worth going to watch Jennifer Anniston as a dark haired nymphomaniac alone though.