Lerner's Driver

I want you to do it, we'd be top.

In time you might be right, but at this particular moment your suggestion is utterly ridiculous. The guy is growing with the team and the club as a whole. Overall the progress is still very much on an upward curve, so for that reason alone getting rid is illogical.

They are a fully formed team, well coached, well organised and very effective in their style of play. Moreover, they've been growing tighter as a unit for some years, so in that sense what they are showing now is not all that surprising. We are further back in our evolution, so deserve to be behind them.

Wins a win. One or two decent showings, shame about Davis.

We don't give a sh*t about them, except for when we are endlessly commenting on us not caring about them endlessly commenting on us, you mean?

Ladies, now now.

Given the line ups it somehow looks and feels like a Championship game. We've looked pretty decent and Davies is playing well, again. Hope he gets a goal to reward his excellent hold up play.

Indeed. Enjoy lads.

The inevitable

Bit lucky Silva missed when he should have scored, but we are at least giving them something to think about when we break. Defensively good and one or two decent forward moves, which have died with poor final ball. City still the most likely but you never know.

Not really bothered about this one. We have now shown we can compete and we aren't automatic favourites for going back down, largely by dint of our ambitious approach and the fact we have a goal or two in us most games. Confidence is rising, team identity is forming, so bring it on. Be disappointing if we got spanked, but not unexpected and not the end of the world, far from it. These boys should shrug it off before the next match.

Very un-Villa-like. Utterly delightful. Again, we struggled to break down ten men though. El Gahzi was poor today and Targett worse until his goal. Grealish excellent and the two subs made a difference, especially Trez. Brighton can feel hard done by.

Fortunately, (in your own words), you have half a brain, some don't and didn't when they came to their conclusions. We all wanted to believe in him despite the questions, but for some the fact there were questions and he was Chinese was enough to write him off. Same now. To pretend racism didn't play a part for some, is just deluded, thoughtless dross.

Yes racism. You clearly missed my point, which was about the judgements some made of him BEFORE anything was known about him. After he'd failed to pay the tax bill then sure you have some ammunition, but before, nobody knew and plenty judged. Timing mate.

I'm no defender of Xia, but the basis for dismissing him back then was that he must be dodgy because we know nothing about him and... wait for it, yes, he's Chinese as well! Any amount of I told you so now, is precisely the same thick headed racism it was back then because you still don't know any more now, than you did then. Another uncomfortable truth is that we were a basket case and whilst Xia certainly did not do us any favours at all, he did at the very least give it a go, when nobody else who was any good wanted to touch us with a barge poll. Bearing all that in mind, we are ridiculously lucky to be where we are and to have found the owners we have now.

If he's a right winger he can stay in Bolton.

I think we should rename this thread Wesley's Morass.

Realistically, this year was always going to be difficult and I know wishing for anything else is just me expressing deluded entitlement, but why oh why, couldn't our momentum continue. It just feels so typically Villa to look promising and then kill ourselves. We ALWAYS do. In that way, last year felt surreal because the glory was delivered and reality just never interfered, but the dream is well and truly over now. Fully awake and nothing but a long hard slog from here on. Joy.

Yes, but his replacement, who did well today, got injured, so we have to put up with the inevitable failure of any positive forward movement for as long as Targett is out.

Why say the if? Everything that comes after it is all that matters. We keep **** up.

We are going down. Mings far too casual today and increasingly so is the polite way of describing it... looking more and more shit is probably accurate. Crying shame Targett went off, he looked decent. No doubt, we have ability and can score but we shit ourselves when in front. Worrying.

Got you. So, having massively exceeded expectations, we should now 'get real'. How exactly does that play out in practical terms for the players?

How does that differ from our whole team atm?

It's not only Ming's, it's the lot of them. So many inaccurate passes, just invites trouble.

Why can't we keep the ball? That's the glaring weakness of this team.