YankeeinMadrid

Warnock is worse than Hutton...and it ain't even close. FACT

I've been wondering if anyone on the coaching staff watches the matches and actually "coaches" the players to help them improve. For the love of God, someone needs to tell Darren Bent NOT to jump so damn early. EVERY SINGLE TIME he's already nearly on the ground again by the time the ball gets there.

He made a handful of good passes, including the aforementioned pass that Bent couldn't do anything with (should have been 1 on 1 w GK). In the 2nd half, the defense as whole was shocking. Carlos did make a good tackle on Henry 1 on 1 towards the end and you can't really blame a CB a whole lot when they have to have Hutton or Warnock one one side of them and constantly need to save them. Carlos was probably the best or least crappy of the 4 defenders tonight.

^You are 100% spot on.

Perfect example of Richard Dunne today. Brilliant and horrible at the same time. If he would have been sent off (straight red for me there), we'd have lost 8-2 Bent took his goal well (should have scored 1st time), but had NO business making that challenge with a defender right there (it was definitely a penalty). Warnock (see my posts about him all season); just got completely owned by Walcott. Clark isn't a CM RVP is such a $%·", cheat and overall bad human being. What happened from halftime on is an example why Wenger is a great manager and McLeish is mediocre at best. M-O-T-I-V-A-T-I-O-N Bannan: everyone on here thinks he's the messiah, but he's VERY overrated. Hutton was pretty decent today actually.

You have. I agree with Paul Robinson (who will be/has been replaced by Marcos Alonso--who should be in jail) and Traore is crap. Elokobi doesn't start anymore and I don't think he's worse than Warnock. Same for Shorey (who we also paid decent $$ for). It just proves my point that we can't have an LB who is among the worst 3 or 4 of all PL starting players at his position and hope to finish in the top 6.

A starting LB... I bet there may be 2 or 3 tops that are worse.

Let's play a game: Try to name a PL left back who is worse than Warnock.

That has been happening for years, particularly since privatisation. The home counties are getting bigger and bigger as the circle of places within one hour of central London is getting bigger. If you just take the midlands for an example, Coventry is just 63 minutes from Euston. Leamington/Warwick is about 75 minutes away, Rugby is less than an hour, Nuneaton not much more when the express trains stop. It hasnt caused an explosion in house prices up here yet, but in other places well served by rail it has, North Oxfordshire is becoming much more of a commuter belt for example for those reasons. I'm all about house prices going up because of increased amenity (better transport links and shorter commutes) as opposed to hardcore property speculation. It may even relieve some of the high demand for real estate in the areas that you've mentioned.

I think the impact on the local property market will be HUGE. Look for people living VERY CLOSE to London, but still commuting 1 hr-1.5 hrs to work in London to move to Birmingham. Areas close to the city centre (within 5-10 miles) which are currently depressed will soon see mass redevelopment. Why pay, for example, 500k for a smallish house just outside London when you can get a HUGE home for that money in the Birmingham area? I think lots of real estate speculation will start once the plan is approved (it will be). I am about to buy my first home, so this is very interesting to me.

Unless you're being sarcastic, I respectfully disagree. He's above average, but in my opinion nowhere near world class. Back on topic, I think that Clark is a good CB and has potential to become a great CB (see Pique). I don't think he'd ever be more than a stopgap, so-so CM (which is what he is now IMO).

I wasn't a fan of the McLeish appointment, but I have to give him credit for turning Stephen Ireland back into a good player.* So there you have it, well done Alex....now let's get some more wins! * I hope Ireland doesn't run off to Tibet to become the first Irish Tibetan Monk or something similar.

I may be wrong but hadn't we already brought on Hutton, Albrighton and Bannan by the time Guzan was injured? If so I make it that we had already made 3 substitutions which is, I understand, the maximum allowed. I thought it was before Bannan came on. If not, scratch that paragraph out of my post match rant! You are right! McLeish out for using all 3 subs!!

I may be wrong but hadn't we already brought on Hutton, Albrighton and Bannan by the time Guzan was injured? If so I make it that we had already made 3 substitutions which is, I understand, the maximum allowed. I thought it was before Bannan came on. If not, scratch that paragraph out of my post match rant!

I must be incredibly naive then. Warnock has been consistently POOR and among the worst players, if not THE worst player, the first half of the season. Maybe we were watching a different match...but I think Warnock, who I do not rate, had a TERRIBLE 1st half. He has been below average for most of the season, especially the last few matches. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that if you're defending a speedy winger NOT to mark him so tightly if you have no support. You give the winger a bit of space so that you don't get done for pace or a ball over the top. Also, Warnock hasn't got a clue when it comes to keeping in line with the other defenders or an offside trap. He was a good 10 yards ahead of the other defenders and an easy chip over the top set his winger clear on goal. Dunne/Collins/Cuellar have been bailing Warnock out REPEATEDLY this season. I haven't even mentioned the fact that Warnock likes passing the ball to the wrong team in dangerous positions, because all the other poor play really shows how terrible he is. Houllier fell out with him, fair enough. If Warnock was a good enough player, you better believe that GH would have eventually put him back into the side. Managers want to keep their job. GH obviously saw that Clark or Baker or even Delph were adequate replacements for Warnock. That being said, fair play to Warnock for not committing suicide at halftime and coming out and having a scrappy, much better 2nd half. I respect the fact that he didn't throw in the towel and give up. I'd give him a -2 for the 1st half and a 6 for the 2nd.

Here is my Warnock rant from the match thread- I think Warnock, who I do not rate, had a TERRIBLE 1st half. He has been below average for most of the season, especially the last few matches. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that if you're defending a speedy winger NOT to mark him so tightly if you have no support. You give the winger a bit of space so that you don't get done for pace or a ball over the top. Also, Warnock hasn't got a clue when it comes to keeping in line with the other defenders or an offside trap. He was a good 10 yards ahead of the other defenders and an easy chip over the top set his winger clear on goal. Dunne/Collins/Cuellar have been bailing Warnock out REPEATEDLY this season. I haven't even mentioned the fact that Warnock likes passing the ball to the wrong team in dangerous positions, because all the other poor play really shows how terrible he is. Houllier fell out with him, fair enough. If Warnock was a good enough player, you better believe that GH would have eventually put him back into the side. Managers want to keep their job. GH obviously saw that Clark or Baker or even Delph were adequate replacements for Warnock. That being said, fair play to Warnock for not committing suicide at halftime and coming out and having a scrappy, much better 2nd half. I respect the fact that he didn't throw in the towel and give up. I'd give him a -2 for the 1st half and a 6 for the 2nd.

I think AMC should have made a handful of changes to the side that beat Chelsea, but also understand why he didn't. If anything, Villa cannot afford to rest players in these "winnable" matches. These are the matches that we need to pick up points in. Darren Bent, when 100% fit, will start every single PL match. Agree, disagree...it is what it is and won't change while he's at Villa- FACT. I think Warnock, who I do not rate, had a TERRIBLE 1st half. He has been below average for most of the season, especially the last few matches. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that if you're defending a speedy winger NOT to mark him so tightly if you have no support. You give the winger a bit of space so that you don't get done for pace or a ball over the top. Also, Warnock hasn't got a clue when it comes to keeping in line with the other defenders or an offside trap. He was a good 10 yards ahead of the other defenders and an easy chip over the top set his winger clear on goal. Dunne/Collins/Cuellar have been bailing Warnock out REPEATEDLY this season. I haven't even mentioned the fact that Warnock likes passing the ball to the wrong team in dangerous positions, because all the other poor play really shows how terrible he is. Houllier fell out with him, fair enough. If Warnock was a good enough player, you better believe that GH would have eventually put him back into the side. Managers want to keep their job. GH obviously saw that Clark or Baker or even Delph were adequate replacements for Warnock. That being said, fair play to Warnock for not committing suicide at halftime and coming out and having a scrappy, much better 2nd half. I respect the fact that he didn't throw in the towel and give up. I'd give him a -2 for the 1st half and a 6 for the 2nd. Coaching: What the heck was going on today?? For the first half it seemed like the players were stunned and surprised by the way that Swansea brought the ball out from Vorm and the back. For the love of God, these are professional athletes...do they watch any film on opponents???? They should have known how they play it short like Barca and have had a plan in place to try to combat that. The fact that it took us 45 mins to figure out the obvious is piss poor and embarassing. When Guzan was injured and it looked bad, why the hell wasn't Andy Marshall warming up?? The logical thing to do would be to have the backup at least stretch right? The 3rd sub still hadn't been made. This is asinine really. Thought Dunne and Ireland were both MOTM for me today. I said before the match that a win at Chelsea is nice, but doesn't mean a thing if we lay an egg at home against Swansea. I was right.

From Sunday, Guzan is free to sign a pre-contract with other clubs. I say sign him to a long extension and offer him a payraise. Even if we doubled his wages (he'd probably accept far less than that), he'd still be on 10k per week less than Given. Hang on to Given until the end of the season and see if we can get a couple million for him. The youth keeper Benjamin Siegrist is a great prospect from what I've heard...

Rex Ryan needs to shut his damn mouth. Refs helped us out multiple times. If Cro and Wilson would have tackled Cruz instead of sucking, the momentum wouldn't have changed. The only positive in my life, sports wise, is that Real Madrid are currently in 1st place.

I agree with your Rex 'gastric bypass' Ryan sentiment. Talk is cheap. Gonna be a great game!!! Nicks and Cruz started the trash talking actually, but Eli would be crazy to attack Revis. I'm not being a homer, Revis is almost Deion Sanders good. The Jets D needs to stop the run and Sanchez needs to get off to a good start. If we can do that and protect Sanchez, easier said than done, we should win. Respect to the Giants, because given all their injuries they have no business winning as many games as they have. Lots of that credit goes to Eli. I truly believe that this game will mark a before and after for these Jets. 27-17 Jets

HUGE game tomorrow NYG vs NYJ. I have to admit, I'm starting to get sick of Rex Ryan's BS. Have you read some of the quotes Cruz has made about Revis? I really hope Eli decides to go after Revis. I agree that Eli is having an amazing year and is a very good QB, but we all know he tries to force throws in there and is prone to dumb INTS. The big matchup is if we can stop the 4 man pass rush (if not, Jets have no chance), if we can cover TEs and Rbs (Bradshaw might be out, plus your TE is out) and whether the Jets can stop Jacobs (who imo is a beast). Time for the Jets to put up or shut up.

This x1000000

I think it's the opposite and a very good PR move (for a change). Let's look at Bolton for a minute and see how they handled a much worse situation with Marcos Alonso. Alonso was driving drunk in Madrid at triple the legal limit, crashed his car and a passenger was killed. What did BWFC do? Nothing. Marcos Alonso is out on bail and meanwhile playing for BWFC (got injured the other night so maybe karma). I personally find it sickening that the league is more concerned with Suarez calling Evra black (which he is!) than a player killing someone when driving drunk. Fair play to AMC for suspending Bannan for a match and almost certainly sitting him down and telling him to get his sh+t sorted out.

Bent was injured. Nothing to see here, although he didn't use his brain when he went out shopping before full time...but then again we don't pay them for their brains.

I wasn't a fan of his signing, but you'd have to be Habib Beye's mother to not see that the past two matches he has played above average. At first he was always going to be subpar because he hadn't played regularly for a loooong time. Did he get forward well? yes. Not a whole heck of a lot of options up there, but Hutton and Albrighton played well together. He owned Gervinho, who has the most receding hairline in history but was top scorer in Ligue 1 last year so aint no slouch, for basically the whole match. Sending off was obviously dumb, but he had a good match. Warnock on the other hand kept trying to help Arsenal score. CC and Dunney had to bail his sorry ass out repeatedly. Hutton may yet come good...