Shaw_nuff

you don't even have to sack him. Just put him on gardening leave. Bring Sid in to show them how to create chances, Tony Morley can tell them how to cross a ball and wheel Big Ron in to put a rocket up their arses.

It's called the IKEA plan. It's a cheap solution that takes ages to put together and then you find a few pieces that don't fit anywhere. It turns out to be crap so you replace the lot with proper stuff.

This season has been one embarrassing debacle after another: Give the manager a new, undeserved 4-year deal based on a couple of positive results. In turn, said manager gives a new deal to an impotent striker who.. Doesn't fit into a new style with no end product. New possession style dropped in mid-season with no transition with all the subtlety of one of those monoliths from 2001. None of the players know what they're supposed to be doing. None of the players care.

Surely one of them has to be the top line?

I've run out of likes but if I had any left you'd get one. And a like. Promises, promises.

Two little dickie birds, Sitting on a wall; One named Peter, One named Paul. Fly away Peter! Fly away Paul! Come Back Peter! **** off Paul!

To be fair they had Pele, Ozzie, Bobby Moore and John Wark. We appear to have Stevie Wonder, Ray Parker and David Blunkett in our squad.

I've just stuck £500 on it or £3.... £3 gets you £500?

Footloose

I'm sorry, this isn't true in the context of your post. Lambert has changed our style of play from an unsuccessful kick and rush to an equally unsuccessful passing style. Even I could do that. If he makes this possession strategy successful, then I'll be the first heap some praise on him.

Whilst that is obviously technically true, the reason I've been touting it as the tipping point is because of the confidence involved. If we lose tonight, then whilst we obviously could win the next one, our confidence would be so low that I'd think it was pretty unlikely. Whereas if we win at least we'll have a bit of confidence to carry into our next winnable fixtures. The players must be looking at these next few fixtures and thinking this is where they get some points. To lose the first one, to someone like Hull, would be a huge knock. There's much more on the line than 3 points By the same measure, a lot of managers will have been looking at fixtures against us and thinking they must get something against Villa. Tough times ahead.

This is because Villa is in that group along with the likes of Everton and Newcastle that are the last 'stepping stone' in the clamber for the top jobs. Trouble is there are very few United's or Citeh jobs. GT went on to manage England which is enough to bury anyone's career. Big Ron was the real exception, but this was because he'd already managed Man U. I think that had he been younger and he'd never managed at United's level before then after that season we finished second he would have been head-hunted for one of the big jobs no problem.

This games important but t won't be the season definer. That will be the game against the Baggies. Whoever loses that will go down. There, you heard it first from Mystic Meg.

Francis can't work out that Drogba's a diving slag.

Here's another one for you: “Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour Watch Villa for an hour and it seems like an eternity. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. That's relativity.”

Good post. One of those fans may have been me. Was one tall, very handsome and had the kind of expression that screamed 'IQ > 150'? No, but there were a couple of right ugly bastards amongst them, one myself. Might see you Saturday morning! Definately me then

Good post. One of those fans may have been me. Was one tall, very handsome and had the kind of expression that screamed 'IQ > 150'?

Are anagrams ok? I particularly like 'Draconian Shirker' and 'Diarrhea Corks Inn'.

Didn't Ron Saunders have a gipsy curse lifted from the sty when he was managing the inbreds? Next season they got relegated.

How many hours have we not scored as a team for? 10 hours?? 10 players times 10 hours is? Terrible?

I doubt many are to be fair, and I doubt he would entertain it either, fit or not. The chequebook is too dusty for his liking.

We're not the only club in this predicament though are we? Newcastle and Everton suffer from the same problem.... Namely, in this global market, we're not in or around London. To some, this is the be all and end all.

They didn't... I doubt they were trying to drag him back through the door, or offering him a sabbatical.

Sorry to pick on just this - but that statement simply does not wash with me. His decision to put players that were on our payroll onto the bomb squad and his insistence on a "young and hungry" transfer strategy backfired spectacularly. He addressed these 2 things this season - hence the reason this squad (on paper at least) is better than the ones in his first 2 years. Had another manager not done this in the first 2 seasons - would we have done as poorly? I seriously doubt it. He's also gone from 'kick and rush' to 'pass and don't move' - no evolution, just 'bang, there you go lads, we're a passing team now'. No wonder the players look lost.