NSmith22

I try to keep an even head but what an awful performance. The diving headfirst into waist high 50/50 balls was absolutely moronic. Before we fell apart I noticed he was wearing the captain's armband and couldn't believe my eyes. Have we not learned anything from last season. Lescott, Richards, Gabby, and Bacuna need to be shown the door immediately.

The circlejerk hate is real.

Just another friendly update for those that flipped out over the loss to Boro. WBA lost to Torquay United 2-1.

That's a textbook doom and gloom response that has completely infested this board. Some of it has been warranted in the past but let's give the club a clean slate, yeah?

Fair play to Tony for calling Holloway out on his BS. He may have went a little over the top with his word choice but I'm sick of watching pundits take the piss whenever they get a chance. I'm not entirely convinced we make out of this division but anything outside of top 10 would be absolutely shocking when you look at some of the teams in the bottom half.

Uh... yes please.

I read some news this morning but can't remember the source that WHU put forth a bid for Andre Ayew. Probably another case of awful journalism hearing the name Ayew and automatically spamming the web with Jordan as the primary target.

Agreed and I said as much in the promotion thread on Boro's 2nd goal. But I still feel as though at least 3 or 4 players that started today won't be starting the majority of our league fixtures this season. I'm concerned like everyone else but I think it's too early to get extremely worked up over the game today.

Palace lost 3-1 to Fulham today after going unbeaten in all other preseason fixtures. Preseason matters very little.

Didn't get to catch the game today but some thoughts based on the lineup. I'm not in complete meltdown mode because I think we still have a good bit of business left to do in the transfer market. With that said, I am about to lose it if I see another team sheet showing Gestede and Bacuna in the starting lineup. We also have to keep in mind that at some point Cissokho is going to make way for Amavi. The problem with Cissokho and Hutton is they can't be on the field at the same time. Both are serviceable when called upon but their deficiencies coupled together can be a disaster. I don't mind Hutton starting the season at RB. Gestede has to make way for a striker that can actually play with the ball at his feet. Bacuna is wank on and off the field and I think all of us will rejoice when he never puts on a Villa shirt ever again. I'm not sold on Baker starting with Elphick but am willing to take a wait and see approach on that front. He has had his fair share of decent games for us and I think he did pretty well on loan with Bristol City. Everyone flipping out needs to take a breather though and realize that Boro bossed the league last year and they have brought in some pretty good reinforcements for the upcoming PL season. EDIT: Just saw the highlights and my word Baker. Boro's second goal where he gives it away and just starts sprinting out of position towards the player that made the interception is giving me nightmare flashbacks of Richards at CB. The other two goals seemed to materialize from the left side of defense so my point still stands that Amavi in for Cissokho will make a world of difference.

Rumors of PNE defender Greg Cunningham on tweeter. Don't know much about him but says he's a LB. Seems an odd signing with Cissoko, Amavi, and Toner on the books.

Definitely would like the idea of Forestieri.

I've never got the impression that Clark was part of the problem as far as commitment and fight. I hope we keep him and I think he could do very well for us down a peg.

Maybe Moyes expressed his interest in managing the club and the board splintered over the decision. So many things to speculate at this moment.

One can only hope this is the reasoning. Otherwise, it all sounds like a trainwreck and we're in for more suffering.

A couple of thoughts... Maybe the board wasn't happy with the manager appointment and resigned over the choice. Pearson was chosen and Bernstein and King aren't on board with that. Another thought... Bernstein and King aren't happy with the potential direction of the club if a sale is to go through. Either way there's little that can be positively spun out of this news.

Zach Clough and Jonathan Kodjia as well as Nahki Wells would be on my shortlist.

Daily Fail mentioning he's set for move to Marseille.

Express saying he could move to Milan at the end of the season. http://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/651071/Italian-giants-Milan-Aston-Villa-exodus-snubbing-deal

Regardless, 0.8 points per game is likely an achievement in and of itself with 90% of the squad sleepwalking through this season.

This one really cuts deep.

To those wondering about catching matches in the US. BeIn Sports has the rights to the championship and I want to say their broadcast schedule is based on what match is being aired in the UK. You would think a lot of ours would be picked for broadcast. Unless you want to pay over $100 for a full cable/satellite package you can get the Sling International package which is $10 per month and has BeIn and BeIn Espanol. I would not go with FuboTv unless you have a top notch connection I subscribed for about a month before I was ready to pull my hair out. Also, Sling International lets you go back 7 days on programming so no need to remember to DVR a match just scroll back through the week. It's a pretty great service I just pray we get priority for broadcasts.

The knuckledraggers manager seems adept in getting results from a squad full of shit. I'd have him before Jackett (and most others) Great shout. Didn't give that one much thought at first.

I do not and admit to some ignorance on who the next best candidate would be for us. Just giving a shout that if Remi walks a manager that has some skin in the game is needed to fix the rot that is deep inside this club at the moment.

I'm not blaming relegation on Ayew but his elbow and the ensuing 70 minutes was the final nail in the coffin for me. I won't lose an inkling of sleep if 95% of the first team were cleared out at season's end. The entire operation needs to be gutted. As for Remi I'm pretty ambivalent as a part of me believes if a mass exodus happens he likely could string together a pretty good squad but that could just as easily blow up in our faces like it always does. We've scoffed at the experienced managers lately but look at Alex Neil, Eddie Howe, and Sean Dyche. All of them are well versed in English football and have stabilized their respective clubs. If Remi does leave for whatever reason we need to hand the reigns over to someone who has some skin in the game besides personal pride and ambition. Maybe someone like Kenny Jackett would be a good shout.