GeordieVillan

I would certainly be playing our strikers (Kozak, Gestede, Ayew) - we need them to find some goalscoring form which can hopefully be taken into league games...

I would play him and Gestede tonight as a pair, and also Ayew. In fact I would be pretty much full strength other than maybe Lescott being rested. We need a moral boosting convincing win, there is no benefit at all in playing the youngsters or reserves, and I don't think our players are so tired that they need a break. It would great for our strikers to get amongst the goals tonight. Lets see if the aggression and intensity of our direct play against Leicester in the second half can be repeated, and if so, then we use the same tactics on Saturday.

My worry would be that we are putting all of our eggs in the Debuchy basket while he keeps us hanging. If he decides at the end of the window he doesn't fancy it, then do we have a backup? Or are we stuck with Hutton and Bacuna, or Richards? My personal view is that Bacuna is doing fine now and should start every game as he gives us something going forward that we need - width. We don't have any width in the rest of the team, and if we are playing with Kozak and Gestede, Bacuna is currently the only player in our squad who can cross the ball from wide. If we sign Debuchy, then I would play Bacuna on the right of the midfield diamond with Veretout taking Gil's place at the tip.

Our goal every week has to be to make up ground on at least 1 of the 5 teams above us. So as long as we win, even if 3 of the 5 above us win, we will have made up some ground on the 2 teams at least. There is enough time left in the season for us to chip away at the gap still. The real pressure now is that following the next 3 league games, we have a slightly tough run of fixtures, so ideally you would want to gap to safety to be no more than 6 points by the time we face Liverpool. We are currently 10 points adrift, but looking at this weekend's fixtures, if we can beat West Brom, its entirely plausible that Norwich, Newcastle and Swansea will all lose (or draw), and with Sunderland and Bournemouth facing eachother - they obviously can't both win! Similarly, the week after if we can beat West Ham, its entirely plausible that our rivals will not win, certainly not all of them. If we win our next 2 games, I think we will then be 6 points from safety, possibly 7, and we then face Norwich. And after that game we could then be 4-5 points from safety, with alot of momentum. I must be dreaming though....I'm talking about us winning 3 games in a row....

I don't think players such as Shelvey, Townsend and Berahino would come to us, even if we paid them stupid money. They would all rather sit on the bench at mid-table premier league teams than risk playing every week in the Championship. Our only options right now are loan players, or players at Championship teams who are unlikely to be promoted.

Same here - I thought he was going to score 10-15 league goals! It can't be a lack of desire - if he wasn't interested in playing he could have stayed at Man City.

When Newcastle signed him it stunk of panic-buy to me. They took one of the main midfielders from a fellow relegation rival in the hope its somehow going to drive them up the table, and arguably paid 30-50% too much. If Shelvey is that good, then why are Swansea sitting where they are? He was very good on Saturday, but I am of the belief that he is the kind of player who has one very good game in every 5-6 games, and in that game he can produce eye-catching passes that mask alot of failures in other games. Saying that - couple Shelvey with some of the other signings Newcastle are rumoured to be making, and all of a sudden they have a team that could quite easily be top half of the table. It only takes 3-4 £10m players to have a massive impact on a team, which is why its such a shame that our summer signings took time to settle.

Your logic is interesting, bizarre but also understandable. You don't like Leicester's success because you fear it shows our owner that operating on a tight budget can lead to success and also because it highlights our failure. My view is pretty much the exact opposite - their success demonstrates what a good manager and 2-3 top players can do in a team when combined with a lot of workhorses and players who will die for the cause - its aspirational for a club in our position, as there is no way we can compete financially with the top 4/6 clubs every year. With regard to highlighting our failure - I think you are overestimating what outsiders think of us - noone is surprised to see us where we are, I have not seen a single pundit or commentator refer to our failures as a shock or disaster or contrast us to the successes of Leicester, Stoke, West Ham or Palace - we are now seen as an historically big club who have been sliding downwards for the last 5 years at least. We are the kind of team that could easily finish in the top half (or top 8) of the table and people would not bat an eyelid, and I am now of the view that if/when we are relegated it will also not really be on the radar of many others.

Still think he would be decent for us if he crossed the ball every now and again. Never known a wide player who refuses to cross the ball into the box. Bizarre. He doesn't have much physical strength, but he is capable of making half a yard. Albrighton has been great for Leicester this year, and he is no quicker, stronger or more technically gifted than Sinclair. What Albrighton does do though - is get the ball into the box early, with varying degrees of success. But if you put the ball into the box 5-10 times in a game, then odds are at least one of them will find your strikers.

My concern would be that he will get bullied similarly V West Brom...

How many went sideways??

I still hope they win the league - even if it's because of momentum and confidence rather than quality. They are doing what I would love Villa to do, I am very jealous but good luck to them. It would demonstrate that football isn't just about who spends the most money. If they do win the league or qualify for champions league - I hope all their best players stay to give it a go, rather than chasing fatter contracts at so called bigger clubs.

Perhaps - but I think broader problem with our team is we are regularly bullied off the ball and bullied out of games by teams that are physically stronger. The second half today was a hark back to the MON era when we occasionally had Carew and Harewood up front and played very direct, and teams couldn't handle it. The tone was set by Gestede ad Kozak in the second half - the Leicester defence couldn't defend deep because they were concerned about the aerial threat, and they couldn't hold a high line because Ayew was looking to get behind.

We need to beat West Brom and hope other results go our way. That being the case, we could then be 6 points from safety, with a slightly inferior goal difference. We then face West Ham and our rivals have some tough games - realistically we could be within 3-4 points of safety with 14 games to play. Our saving grace right now might be that we havn't capitulated in many games (like Sunderland did today), so our goal difference is only marginally worse than our rivals - so if we can win some games we will make that back quite quickly. Is it so impossible that we could get 2 wins on the bounce against West Brom and West Ham? Its unlikely, but not impossible. If you take a step back though - there is 16 games left to play and we are 9 points from safety. If you offered us a position of being 3 points from safety with 6 games to play, I think we would all take it. The being the case, we've got 10 games to make up 6 points on the 3 teams above us.

His first off-game for a while. Maybe he was left our against Wycombe as he needed a rest. Set pieces are still good enough for him to keep his place.

I said after Palace that he had done enough to keep his place. I think he will be dropped for West Brom.

He looked decent because we actually played to his strengths. For the first time this season we started playing the ball forward early to gave him something to fight for a flick on, rather than playing lots of sideways passes and trying to play the ball into his feet. We also tried to cross the ball much more today than in any previous game. I think he should play against West Brom as Kozak's partners, and we should just play direct and let Ayew and the midfield support. The second half today was the most dangerous we've looked all season, Leicester were hanging on even if they were trying to hit us on the break.

I think he should be moved into midfield - he tries to play the ball forward at least, and we need these players in our team now.

Based on the second half today I think we should play him and Gestede up front and play Ayew as no.10 with the license to roam. We should just play direct and get in around the big men. We might actually score some goals and win some games. We've tried the passing game all season with limited success. It was actually exciting in the second half when we just played long ball and by-passed our sideways passing midfielders.

I think I would bring Richards in at right back and move Bacuna into midfield. I don't think Ashley is dynamic or forward thinking enough for us at the moment. However, its clearly that Remi think he's at least half decent.

Exactly - its not his fault if the board didn't sack him early enough!

He was on Sky today covering the match. Pleasantly surprised that he spoke very positively about the club, the players and the fans. He mentioned that we were only 4 points from safety when he was sacked, and that Remi was given 28 games to turn it around, but other than that - I think he spoke very highly of the club and his belief that we can get out of trouble. He also said that the new signings are good players, but need time. And he also commented that Villa's recruitment process is no different to any other club. Now whether behind the scenes he has his media contacts spinning different stories I don't know, but from the horses mouth I think we should acknowledge the fact that he is treating the club with respect.

Fair play to Sherwood - he said some very positive things about the club, players and fans. When I saw him sitting there I thought it was going to be really embarrassing. I hope he is right and we do stay up!

Just had a quick look at the table. Wins for Newcastle and Bournemouth - we simply have to win this one. As if we didn't already know that.

Great result for Newcastle if they hold on, they are capable of pulling clear, and Shelvey might just be the signing that saves them. Bournemouth beating Norwich drags Norwich back into it. We can't expect to move 3 points closer to safety every week, we just need to avoid falling further behind on some weekends. If we can win today then we will be 3 points closer to Sunderland at least. Our game was must-win before the 3pm kickoffs, and it's still must-win now. Our players are going to need to get used to playing under pressure now.