GeordieVillan

i.e. They are much more powerful than us!

Where is Reo?

Its an attacking team, but I think it could work if he plays Downing in the middle with Petrov. If he does, then I think Downing is key to this match. If he is playing Ashley Young at centre-mid with Petrov, then they could rape us, metaphorically, and literally. I have to say, its great to see a team and think "wow we are really going to go for a win". Even if we play with just Bent up front, the players he's picked are attacking ones.

Agbonlahor left, Downing right, and Young in the hole/up front. Didn't work, and it was obvious it wasn't working, and he didn't change it. Bizarre. I read somewhere that often when new managers come in, they try to do something different from the last manager to make their mark, and so they are credited with success i.e. in this case, if he did exactly the same as MON then people would say "its MON's team anyway, Houllier hasn't done anything". That is the only reason I can see for putting Ashley Young up front, and persevering with it so long, even though he's been shit this season (or shit compared to how he can be out wide - he shows glimpses of it every time he is in a wide position). I've been sticking up for Houllier, and think that with a good trasnfer window, bringing in his own players it might still work. The problem is, I always thought it would be a very average season (or worse than average) and he would build for next year - but he's not getting the results for even a below average season. He needs time, but he needs to earn that time himself. Alot of questions now - How long does Randy wait to do something? How long can he stick with his man? How long can we be in the bottom three and GH remain in post? If we get rid of GH, realistically who are we going to appoint manager? Does he give GH money to spend knowing that we could conceivably lose our next 3 games and be in an even worse position? Based on what we've seen over Xmas - bearing in mind the bright result was Chelsea, and they lost tonight against Wolves - I think we should be worried. If GH is staying, then he needs money to buy players, even if we can't ship out the deadwood (players GH doesn't want). If thats not going to happen, then I'm afraid I would get rid IF there is viable alternative. Sad times.

I've been sticking up for him, but that was awful. Really awful. I don't get the Downing on the right wing, Agbonlahor on the right wing and Ashley Young 'in the hole' formation. Why not play them in there actualy positions and then switch it around to change it up. All 3 were shit today, and Heskey carried them. And I think that being played out of position was the reason why they were shit. Put Ashley Young on the **** wing, he is a liability off the front man. The commentator on the stream was so baised, he definitely wanted Villa to lose - was it Paul Walsh? Even he could see Houllier's tactics were wrong, and he mentioned it about 50 times, the rocket polisher. Sadly he was right though.

Can I ask? Who actually cares? What has Ireland done to deserve this thread and this debate? I for one am happy that the manager is trying to get rid of players that he doesn't want, which is something that the previous manager failed to do (and no I'm not having a go at MON, I liked MON). Seems to me like this is just another example of Houllier trying to act on something which we all complained about under the previous manager i.e. failure to get players off the wage that he doesn't need. Now if Houllier doesn't want Ireland, or other players, I don't care how he mistreats or upsets them, as long as he gets them out of the club asap. Do these players actually care about our club? I don't think so. My view would be that Houllier is not a bad man manager, he just chooses the players that he wants to manage well, and the ones that he wants to get rid of. I havn't heard a single complaint or bad story come out from Young, Downing, Heskey, or any of the young players - could it be because these guys are playing (ok/well), and the manager wants to keep them?????? People are going absolutely crazy on here. The fact is, Houllier doesn't want Ireland, Ireland should have never been signed in the first place (side point), and that means that Houllier should get rid. I don't care how he does it, just do it quickly and get him off the wage bill. If Houllier has somehow management to convince Ireland to submit a transfer request himself, and thus Ireland forfeits some bonus/fees he is due, then to my mind Houllier has pulled one out of the bag. To my mind, Houllier knows he has to sell before he can buy, more to get players off the wage bill than to recoup transfer fees. I expect to see departures in January and the summer, some for fees lower than we expect perhaps, but this necessary for Houllier to bring in his own players. Time will tell, but I have no complaints about Houlliers treatment of players, as the players he has supposedly been mistreating have all been performing badly. And, just to confirm, no I am not happy with performances on the pitch, and results do need to improve. And I think they will.

I havn't read all 600 pages, so apologies if this has already been posted - but would anyone have John Gregory back? I think I would. Definitely rather have him than Houllier.

Just got back Awful Not the result, but the manner of the performance Carew missed the pen, and his head went down, and that was it - he was the loan striker and he gave us nothing so we were screwed Ashley tried hard, but there was too much 'Hollywood' type stuff going on Albrighton tried hard, but ran donw too many blind alleys, he'll learn, but he looked weak and slow today Petrov - he was knackered 5 mins into the second half, should have been brought off Ireland - him and Petrov won't work as a combo Downing looked like the Downing of last season rather than last week Andy Carroll gave the whole defence a beating, he could be a good player Macdonald - I'd love him to be good enough for the job, but today just showed he's not going to get it. For me, a top manager is one who can turn things around when you're a couple of goals down. We took a pasting. I know that happens in football (like Chelsea last year), but it shouldn't happen at Newcastle. The substitution to bring on Heskey when we needed a goal was killer, he lost the fans in the stadium with that one. I felt the same way about Capello in the world cup, if you need a goal - why bring on someon that doesn't ever score I can only conclude that Heskey has a portfolio of photographs of almost every top manager in comprimising positions, there is no other explanation This could be a really tough season. We need to bring someone in to steady the ship.

Kev Mac either doesn't want the job (he brought Heskey on (and put him on the wing) when we needed a goal), or he's not up to the job (he brought Heskey on (and put him on the wing) when we needed a goal)

Hi General I posted this on the Season Tickets thread, and was advised that you might be able to offer some answers. Any response and I would be grateful. Thanks "Can I ask a few questions please..... 1) is it possible to get an "away season ticket"? i.e. a season ticket only for away games 2) as someone who only tends to go to games, am I going to find it increasingly difficult to get tickets for away games because there are now going to be more season ticket holders and therefore more people having priority for away games? 3) if I bought a home season ticket, how easy would it be for me to sell my tickets on a game-by-game basis, so I could the home games I can, and still attend away games as usual? Your comments very much appreciated."