heystally!

My Morning Jacket - 'What A Wonderful Man [Live]'

Of course our home record is nothing to be proud off....im not happy with our home record.

Are you not happy with our away record?

With the points yes, but look at the performances in most of the games, Hull away, West Ham away, Portsmouth away etc. we were bloody rubbish and very lucky and i said so at the time. You could count our great performances this season on one hand.

The amount of times I have seen Man Utd under-perform, then go and win games at the death, and go on to win the title. Like last season when they scored in the 90th min at Anfield and went on to win the league.

I'm not bothered about performances when we can close out games. That's what we seem to have forgotten how to do. We stopped Hull scoring away, we stopped West Ham scoring away, we stopped Pompey scoring away, and we scraped the victories. But now we're slacking and it's bullshit.

We've still had a good season. No one would have thought we could have put that much pressure on Arsenal for such a long period. Over half of the season we were looking like pushing them to the end.

It's up to MON to spend big in the summer, on real quality players who'll improve our first eleven. Or we'll keep slipping further and further behind the teams above us.

The club may be bigger than the manager

May? :shock: The Club Is MUCH BIGGER than any Manager!!!! glad we did clear that up :-)

I didn't mean "may" in the questioning sense of the word. I meant it as a word used to roll onto a "but". Don't worry, I'm a Villa fan over and above being a MON fan

The club may be bigger than the manager, but it is not coincidental that the two most successful clubs in the Premier League's history are also the two with the longest standing managers. Stability will bring better success than changing managers when things look the slightest bit grim. Getting rid of MON would be a backwards step.

General Krulak here:

Simply put, Randy owns two sports franchises

What is the other franchise?

BOF : Randy also owns the Cleveland Browns.

I think the joke was that we are not a franchise over here

Hi General, just wanted to thank whoever organised/chose/painted the giant '82 picture in the Holte End Lower concourse, near the L3 steps to the terraces. I hadn't taken a proper look at it until Sunday, and I think it looks fantastic.

Truth is it is MON who has got us on the verge of the Champions League, through his signings which make up the majority of our first team, and his general management of the team.

Dear friend, with the money he have spent would you expect any worse than top 6? look what DOL did with almost no Money under Doug

You mean build a team which rose quickly and then fell to near relegation?

Unfortunately you have to spend more and more money to do keep going in football now. When Sunderland got into the Prem last season, they spent £40m which just kept them out of the relegation scrap. Spurs spent loads and have only started to climb the table. Yes we'd have done worse without spending as much. But that's just the nature of the game.

Current form is a snapshot. While it is undoubtedly crap it should not be used to judge a manager's value to his club unless of course there is an agenda

Right, but think about the players he has got in? I can see more of this coming in near future, Unfortunately

Since most of the players in this team are O'Neills now, and we're looking like another top 6 finish, um... his players can't be that bad. Unless there's some unknown force that we're unaware of that has made us do this well.

The thing is that fans who don't like O'Neill will look at signings such as Heskey, Salifou, Knight, Shorey, Sidwell and say "They are not good enough signings for our club". Yet they are hardly first choice selections. In our best XI, MON has signed Friedel, Luke Young, Davies, Milner, Ashley Young, Petrov and Carew. That's over half the starting team.

He has bought average squad players out of necessity. If he didn't buy, and we got an injury, we'd be screwed. If he bought all top class, and kept some out of the side, they would get stroppy, not play as well when brought in, and we'd be screwed. He can't win either way.

Truth is it is MON who has got us on the verge of the Champions League, through his signings which make up the majority of our first team, and his general management of the team.

Yes. Without any hesitation or doubt.

Hi General,

Very good performance today, despite being kicked in the teeth right at the death. After losing 5-0 to Liverpool, and heading to Old Trafford, probably our worst visiting ground in the Premier League, the lads really fought well, and deserved to get something out of the game. Please pass on congrats on the performance, it was a good performance more than anything that we needed to help us finish of the season with six out of six wins (and at least a point against Everton).

I'm still sceptical we'll finish fourth, but pushing the Champions all the way shows we're not out of this yet.

Hi General,

With eight games to go, who would be your vote for Player of the Season?

Two little known facts about James Milner.

1) James Milner is not a right back.

2) Playing James Milner at right back is a waste of what he offers our team.

And these facts are so little known that even his manager doesn't know them.

Hi General,

Very disappointed at the moment I have to be honest. I know the team cannot truely be accused of not putting in the effort, but complacency does seem to be creeping into a lot of our first-team players. I was at Stoke two weekends ago, I travelled to Man City, and I was at the game yesterday, and for me the only players who seem worthy of putting in 110% are John Carew, Gareth Barry, Stiliyan Petrov, Ashley Young and Nigel-Reo Coker (add Luke Young to the list but I thought he didn't play so well yesterday). MON really needs to shake things up at the moment, or it seems we are going to get killed travelling to Anfield and Old Trafford back-to-back. The top teams pray on complacency.

The other thing I wanted to point out was the reaction to the substitution of Gabby Agbonlahor. I for one was not jeering the decision, but I can understand why some people did jeer - and it was not aimed at Gabby himself. As of late, maybe for a month or so, Gabby really has not been playing well. His movement on the front line has been non-existant, he does not take on players half as much as we know he can, it is like watching a different player to the one who shone in the first half of the season. And i'm sure Gabby knows this himself more than anyone does.

But in spite of this, which can be seen by pretty much every Villa fan at the moment, it seemed as though he was untouchable. The Heskey-Gabby combination has not been working recently, and it is not through anyone's fault. But the fans have been begging MON to bring off Gabby and change things up that way, but yesterday has been the first time this has happened. It is through no dislike of Gabby that people wanted him substituted, it is because he has not been playing well. John Carew on the other hand has come off the bench in the last three matches, started one (at home to Moscow), scored three goals and created so much more than Gabby has in recent weeks.

So my viewing of the situation yesterday was less jeering at Gabby, but more at MON. It had started to seem that no matter how bad Gabby was playing, no matter how little effort it seemed he was putting in, he was irreplacable. And it appeared that maybe this, coupled with his selection for England, made him too complacent. But finally, after the fans had seen for weeks his weak performances, MON makes the call he should have a few games ago. But it was still too little too late. I honestly believe that had Carew come on for Gabby instead of Zat Knight (who I felt was unfortunate to be substituted, as he has been playing well recently, and he is a better centre half than Luke Young!!) we would have had a better chance of winning the game.

So I am thankful that finally MON has made the call he should have made weeks ago. And maybe it'll encourage him to give players a chance who a desparate to make an impression. It seems MON thinks that just having Gabby on the pitch gives us a great chance of winning, because he can change a game in a flash. But even I could see that he was off form against Everton in the cup. And maybe having a player always starting, never being subbed off, made the players behind him think "if I can't get a game when this guy is playing badly, how can I get a game?" which does nothing for moral.

Please try and pass this on to the dressing room. It was not jeering aimed at Gabby as a person. It was an attempt to show that this change should have been made weeks ago, yet it seems MON did not have the guts to do it until yesterday. And I honestly believe it could have been a big factor in why we have slipped in recent weeks.

Up the Villa!

J

General, if a movie was being made about your life, what actor should play the lead role and why?

My vote is Chuck Norris. Or Jack Bauer. Not the actor, the character.

General Krulak here:

5. We went with acorns because they are in a very tough spot right now...simple as that. It had nothing to do with being unable to get a "paying" sponsor...we could have done that. It had everything to do with not deserting a ship that is taking on water! We need to help them.

Hi General,

Just fantastic. Fantastic.

I did have a quick thought though. Going to Everton and Man City away, I saw that they had half-time competitions, involving kicking footballs through a solid goal with random ball-shaped holes cut out of it, and they have the opportunity to win some sort of holiday.

I was wondering whether we could take upon this idea in some way, but us it primarily to raise funds for Acorns. A basic example of what i'm thinking is that every week, you can purchase tickets to be entered into a draw to go on the pitch at half time and score as many goals as possible. Each home game, a certain number (maybe like five per week) are selected at random, and take part in the competition at half time. At the end of season, the person with the most goals wins a holiday or something like that. But the majority of the proceeds from it could go towards Acorns. Like, the goal could be a giant Acorns logo with holes cut out. And the holiday could be sorted by our new partners in Thomas Cook, which would also aid their charitable image.

Obviously that is a very basic layout. Just a thought. It'd get a lot of people's attention as it would be on match days, and more people may be inclined to do it if it was primarily for Acorns.

Hope you're well.

Hi General,

I echo what Ian has said above. It has been a disappointing couple of weeks as a Villa fan, but this is a shining light through the grey. So happy the club have taken up the Acorns option again, really makes me feel proud to be a Villa fan, no matter how the results are going on the pitch.

However, I thought it was strange on the Sky Sports News news bar that the story simply reads 'Aston Villa extend shirt sponsorship with local hospice' without actually naming them. How difficult is it for someone to type 'Acorns' at the end of the sentence?

Now lets get the results back on track!

Hi General,

I am obviously gutted following our UEFA exit. But I have to applaude the lads who played their hearts out in Moscow. In minus figures temperature, on a plastic pitch, the lads gave it a very good go, and if we'd had maybe a keener eye in front of goal at times then it could have been a lot different. Special mention for Bannan and Albrighton, who stepped up well in their first starts for the club. Hopefully we'll see more of them in the next few months and years.

I can completely understand where MON was coming from leaving some key players at home. I don't want Aston Villa to be a team who can win the UEFA Cup year after year, never breaking into the top tier of European (and world) football. I want Aston Villa to be one of the biggest clubs in the world. Finishing 5th in the league and winning the UEFA Cup would still be a step in the right direction, but we have such a fantastic chance of finishing within the top four, and establishing ourselves in the group stage of the Champions League.

The money and attraction to better players would be such a step up from winning the UEFA Cup this season. The best players in the world want to play in the Champions League. Our vice-captain wants to play in the Champions League. In the position we are in, we need to be going for that 4th spot, no matter what. And then the future prospects of getting silverware will be so much more likely than winning one trophy this season. This is about our future.

So I applaude MON in his decision. With the schedule we've had, he cannot make an easy decision, and he cannot win either way. He sends a weak team to Moscow, there's fan discontent. We send a strong team and lose at Stoke, there's discontent. He's made the right decision for the future of this club, which has a much brighter potential than it would if we went for the UEFA Cup and weakened our top four chances.

And a thank you to you too General K. It must be difficult at times having to absorb some of the anger from some fans. Your position between the board and fans can't be easy at times, but I thank you for persisting with it. You are a valuable asset to us. And with a bit of patience, I'm sure the anger will be much more restricted in the future.

General Krulak here:

1. He is a great competitor himself and lets his emotions show when we put one in the back of the net.

Hi General,

Any chance you can capture one of Randy's celebrations for us all? I'm sure everyone would love to have a new avatar

Vegatable Tagliatellie

Fry onions, peppers, courgettes, cherry tomatoes, cashew nuts.

Add to tagliatellie pasta.

Turn off heat and pour over sauce of cream, herbs and one egg. Pan should be hot enough to cook the sauce. Once it starts to set on the pasta, get it on the plate before it turns to scrambled egg.

Voila.

What has that to do with the interbreeding of the offspring of Adam and Eve? Confused

It was common practice in Ancient times for men to marry their sisters or neices. Some fellow VTs were ridiculing the fact that

Adam & Eve's offspring would have had to have married their siblings or their descendents for the human race to continue.

I was merely pointing out that Ptolemaic Pharaoh's ALWAYS married their sisters and had offspring succesfully to continue

the "royal" line.

Personally, despite the fact it was common practice, that doesn't really make it right. But I guess i'm speaking from a position of not having to do so.

They all had to marry their sisters.

What has that to do with the interbreeding of the offspring of Adam and Eve? :?

I think it was a point about how it happened in that situation so it is not far-fetched that it happened with Adam and Eve's children.

Adam and Eve had many children not just Cain and Abel.....the Bible attests to this.

Where did they all get their wives from...well they married their sisters or their neices.

Thought it may have been the case that they had more kids. But it's still incest which ever way it's viewed.

Tbf, AFAIK, the bible doesn't say anything about other people not being created after them. I know, the ancestors of all people but we all know such inbread would be impossible as they would most likely be sterile sooner rather than later.

Seriously, I'm on the same side as most of you on this, but IMO some of you are a bit rude and to ridicule someones opinions and beliefs by laughing at them don't do anyone any credits. Argue and all that, but I think you're a bit harsh here. Julie's a good person and a good contributer to this site and should be treated by more respect, I think. At least she tries to put out some good arguments. As said, argue but don't ridicule. Maybe I'm calling a kettle black, I don't know, but still.

I didn't feel like I was being rude to anyone. I was making a serious point about the line of human existence.

The other comment was my attempt at humour. I didn't feel it was ridiculing anyone's belief, just an off-the-cuff remark. I'm exceedingly tolerent of what people want to believe, it's up to them if they want to believe in it.

Stilton.

Adam and Eve had many children not just Cain and Abel.....the Bible attests to this.

Where did they all get their wives from...well they married their sisters or their neices.

Thought it may have been the case that they had more kids. But it's still incest which ever way it's viewed.