Godders

I did put 'if he gets us up' to begin with. Then thought bollocks to it, Bruce is going to get us promoted. So yeah, when he gets us up.

Bruce has previously performed far better in the Championship than he has in the Prem, which I think is the point @Jareth was trying to make, which is true. That said, he will have earned a tilt at leading us under Xia's plans for world domination when he does get us up. I do disagree that he knows his level is not where we're going though. If the FA came knocking, i doubt he'd turn them down, considering himself to be a championship standard manager. I bet he's licking his lips at the prospect of being given the opportunity to build a European standard football team.

7-0 Villa. Mainly cos Warnock's a knob.

Agree with @StefanAVFC here. We had one of the better defences in the league under RDM, and he was a key part of that. The whole team is playing better under Bruce. He will definitely give SB a selection headache when he forces his way back into the team I reckon.

Tough interview for SB on Sky. Interesting he filibustered on praising Kodjia, trying to shoehorn Jedinak playing in there.

Hughton confirmed Calderwood's done

I was simply responding to a post re the Line up detractors in the pre match thread. You can argue that SB ballsed up because Grealish and Ayew weren't on the pitch from that start. You can argue that by bringing them on late he changed the game in our favour. I've no doubt that that this argument will be fought, fiercely, on here over the next few days. For now though, I'm on the fence. We've got a point against the form team in the league. We should've beat the second placed team at their place, a team that most widely expect to be in the promotion mix. They're happier with the point on the performance. I'm going to take this alcohol fuelled happiness for a while and dare to dream. UTV!!

Careful fella, we looked best with Grealish and Ayew on.

Play like that week in, week out until the end of the playoffs and we'll be up no problems

Ref for me has been rubbish so far. Far too quick to blow the whistle. Think he realised at the back end of half as there were a few 'fouls' for both sides that went unpunished, which now means he's inconsistent as well as trigger happy. Gabby looks like he's lacking match sharpness. Was flat footed for a couple of knock downs, and when he nicked the ball off them up top he rushed it. Hutton/Adomah looks to be where it's happening, but Kodja has to be coming in off his wing into the area if we're going to make those crosses work. Gabby isn't a presence in the air.

Certainly sounds like it @Mjvilla

I think he showed it against SHA. Whether he can keep it up for more than a few minutes is another matter.

SB just deflected a question about Calderwood.

Fingers crossed he kicks on from his goal against the scum. Big opportunity for him tonight. Huge opportunity for Gabby tonight as well. He owes it to the club I think to grab it with both hands.

Agree. Looks like we're well set up to counter attack tonight, so really, all we need Gabby to do is run at their defence to create space for others. My main worry is that we seem to be lacking a midfielder to run from deep to take advantage of that space.

Grealish has been ill this week as well apparently according to Sky. Think Gabby was somewhat forced.

I get @thabucks argument. I think I can see though a scenario where it actually makes sense to keep him at the club: Let's say he gets his fitness up to a place where he can play competitively for half an hour every week or so. We may find teams come in for him as a bit of a punt. However, it's conceivable that he wouldn't want to move abroad given his family, so would only be interested in English clubs, and his wages are likely to rule out lower league teams, so that really only leaves Championship teams. I would personally hate it if he went to a derby or a Huddersfield type team, and his goals at the end of matches meant they converted 1 point into 3 a few times at the back end of the season. They could even mean we miss out on the playoffs. If we get a situation where some of our rivals are sniffing around, I would much rather keep him here, than risk him helping them out. As much as I think he has shown a certain amount of unprofessionalism on a few occasions, the club has to act in the best interests of the club and maximise the possibility of promotion, even if that means keeping Gabby here.

If we weren't under new ownership, I'd be suspicious this was the club recruiting for new scouts! 3-2 Villa. 24.5k

I dunno. Isn't he supposed to be the next Bond?

CLEARLY Westwood's fault.

Missed it. What did he say?

Which is ironic, since I don't think he was as bad as some others today.

I wanted Bruce in, but I hope to god that was just the remnants of RDM, because that was easily the worst 2nd half of football I've seen from us all season. Still, we were under the cosh for 45mins and didn't concede, so every cloud I guess.

I can vouch for it. If you watch him closely, he even takes it during a match. Not in full view of everyone mind, he'll generally sneak off to the dugout.

Yeah I can see that. There must be a good few managers thinking to themselves "Sod taking the Villa job. No way do I want to work for an owner who wants them to be among the best in the world. He'd probably give me a fair bit of cash to spend as well. Nah, not for me. Give me an owner happy to stay where they are, spending like they're happy to stagnate and I'll be happy as Larry. May well last a couple of seasons as well" Wait, on second thoughts, I'm not sure I can see it...