briny_ear

I'd love to know how the education system works in Hull, they seem to be struggling to tell the difference between a knee and a hand.

Perhaps that's where John Prescott went wrong.

Ha ha, Fagan came off worse from trying to headbutt Collins

I just don't believe this. We've gone from being completely on top to under pressure just like that.

Complete shambles from Hull's point of view but what a superb finish from Gabby.

Now...

According to stuff I've been posting on the main site, this is when we are often at our most vulnerable, often conceding sloppy goals shortly after we have scored,

So prove me very very wrong tonight please boys...

Sloppy defending but thankfully no goal this time.

WTF goes on with Villa's defence?

Petrov obviously fancies himself to score from positions like that 'cos he's always taking shots from there but I just wish he could score one or two.

Complete shambles from Hull's point of view but what a superb finish from Gabby.

Now...

According to stuff I've been posting on the main site, this is when we are often at our most vulnerable, often conceding sloppy goals shortly after we have scored,

So prove me very very wrong tonight please boys...

I would accept a bid of around £24m for Milner.

Don't get me wrong, I think he is a fantastic player for us, but some of the posters on here make him out to be World Player of the Year!!! I wouldn't say for one minute that he is the easily the best player at the club like some are making out.

If United came in with an offer of say £8m plus Carrick, I would be happy with that as I think he would offer us that creativity through the middle of the park that we currently lack.

Frankly, I think you are prepared to sell us a bit short. We don't have too many assets with which we can screw money out of the CL clubs if that is what Lerner says we need to do. We must surely ask for more than £24m? And Carrick + £8m would leave us distinctly down on the deal in my view.

Even with the 7 goal thrashing by Chelsea, we still have the 5th best defensive record in the Premiership, so I don't see that having old CC at Right Back has done us that much harm.

It's only in the past four seasons that I have come to understand that some Villa fans will apparently be most offended, above almost everything else, by a manager playing a centre back at right back. First Mellberg, now Cuellar.

I'm pretty sure other top clubs take a flexible approach to defensive positions taken by their players without all this fuss. Isn't it good if your defenders can play in more than just one role? Helps with injuries, etc.

I can't imagine why people get so furious with this, I really can't.

Nice of Dowie to let us know his tactics in advance

Iain Dowie tells Hull to turn heat up on Aston Villa

• 'This week has got to bring at least one win'

• Hull manager believes possession is key to survival

* Louise Taylor

* The Guardian, Wednesday 21 April 2010

Hull City will aim to stop Aston Villa from playing their counter-attacking game tonight as they seek a vital home victory in east Yorkshire. Iain Dowie's side sit third bottom of the Premier League, three points adrift of safety, but the interim manager remains optimistic relegation can be avoided.

'This week has got to bring at least one win; beating Villa would change the whole picture,' Dowie, below, whose team face Sunderland at the KC Stadium on Saturday, said yesterday. 'And if we were able to put back-to-back wins together, then we're really cooking on gas. That would put real pressure on West Ham.'

The former West Ham forward has decided the best way of discomfiting Gianfranco Zola's similarly relegation‑threatened side is to proceed with caution. Dowie's new‑look 4‑5‑1 formation produced a point in Saturday's goalless draw at Birmingham and he pronounced himself well pleased. 'We passed the ball better than at any time this year,' he said. 'We made 70 more passes than we've made in a game all season." With the matches against Villa and Sunderland followed by a trip to Wigan and the visit of Liverpool, he believes superior possession retention is preferable to gambling on twin forwards. "People can ask for two strikers," he said. "And that's fine when strikers are scoring but ours have got nine goals between them all season.

"And I'm not sure going 4-4-2 against Aston Villa's 4-4-2 would be right. Villa are as good a counter attacking side as anyone in the country and Martin O'Neill says they are looking to win here. If you just attack Villa that's suicide, look at their goal threat."

Not that Dowie is daunted. "If you worry about Villa you wouldn't sleep," he said. "But we've got to play to our strengths. We've got to make Agbonlahor, Carew, Downing, Young and Milner look like average players. We need to expose one or two weaknesses they have."

He trusts patience will prove a key weapon in Hull's armoury and hopes his team can pass their way to safety. "We have to hang on in games and keep a foothold. I'd like to see us building our passing game and giving Villa something to worry about.'

So this comes down to the really key issue for Villa this season.

Can we play successful football against a determined 4-5-1. Sounds as if Dowie will tell Hull to play as if they're away from home, keep it tight and defend in numbers.

This is the type of play we have struggled most to break down this season, so if we win tonight I will count this one of our best achievements this season, and a real step forward for the team.

BTW

We will win this, in fact I think we will win our last 4 games but it still will not be enough

If we win our last 4 matches, it will be enough for me. Couldn't ask for more from the lads

Santa Cruz, Bellamy, Ireland, Richards + £5 Million. Thanks

With you except for Santa Cruz who hasn't exactly set the world on fire this season.Can't we have Tevez?

Give us 30 million and we will throw in Ashley young for nothing.

Great idea. Why not throw in the entire club for an extra £5m? :?

Ayee, Milner will go to United if he leaves. For a silly amount of money hopefully.

Trouble is, we would get the silliest money from Citeh. Not sure Man U could match their chequebook.

Perhaps we could lighten things up by playing "Milner Transfer Bingo". We've already had Man U and Man C putting in bids for him.

The first person to spot interest reported by each of the following:

Arsenal

Liverpool

Chelsea

Barcelona

Real Madrid

Newcastle (playing their Joker)

gets full house.

Just remembered something - Did anyone else notice that David James refused to shake Petrov's hand at the end of the game? I assume he thought Petrov dived on his penalty shout or something.

I didn't see the Petrov one but I did think that James said something to Young at the end of the game

James certainly had a right go at Petrov immediately after the incident.

Same line up same tactics.

Hopefully, therefore, same result as last match.

Not for the first time after a match, I had to check I was on Villatalk and not a SHA messageboard! There is SO much negativity here about Villa, it is unbelievable. If people don't like the team, why bother to watch them?

Well done Villa. Dominated the game, had a fairly average day in front of goal but fought through in the end. We are now up to sixth - ABOVE LIVERPOOL* - and still making those Manchester and Tottenham boys look over their shoulders just once or twice.

And well done Nathan Delfouneso for SCORING YOUR FIRST PREMIERSHIP GOAL* - hopefully the first of many.

* These are the sorts of things I thought people might be celebrating, not droning on the usual dreary stuff about how Villa were shit, etc. Should have known better by now.

just heard Carson Yeung has been arrested for causing all the planes in the UK to be grounded, apparently he created a massive dust cloud

when cleaning out the blues trophy cabinet.

Quality

Just been reading the match thread and I think some posters should be hanging their heads in shame. All a bit surrender-monkey territory.

"Season over" indeed. We've still got to qualify for Europe, haven't we?

Thought we were a bit unlucky in the end not to win - we had some really decent chances in the first half. But if you give away soft goals like we did, you don't really deserve any luck. I've started worrying about shambolic defending again - thought all that was behind us. :?

The real positive is that the lads kept fighting to the end and never gave up (unlike the towel-throwers-in on the match thread).

Hope our players will take heart from that and have a strong end to the season.

And do a bit of work on their defending at the training ground.

Can't get a decent stream & I'm not too sorry atm.

Hmmm.

First 20 minutes Villa playing well and edging it but not managing to score. Then concede a soft goal. Where have I heard that before?

I'm with Hanky. It's impossible to know how this one will go.

But if we win it will revitalise our season and whoever plays well/scores will become instant heroes.

I'm feeling more nervous than I did before either of the Wembley games.

Great 45 mins of football from the Villa. Chelsea - I never thought I would hear myself saying this - have been tactically naive, relying on (usually very inaccurate) long-ball play. Can't believe Ancelotti will let them do that in the 2nd half, so the next 45 mins will be a whole lot harder for us.

Can't believe that non-penalty decision. It really was disgraceful.

C'mon You Villa Boys!!!

I think its a referencce to Stewart Downings love of mixing decks.

Somehow I can't imagine I would share his taste in music. 8)

Somebody else who doesn't understand the meaning of the word then. Anybody else want to join the club?

Fickle is exactly the right word for somebody who calls for MON to leave and be replaced by flavour of the month Hodgson.

Fickle is only the right word if Risso went from saying he liked MON to wanting Hodgson.

Not sure if he did :?

No, Risso has been steadfast in his opposition to MON from the day he arrived. He hasn't given him any credit whatsoever for any of our achievements over the past 4 years.

There is a word for that sort of attitude but it's not "fickle".