PaddytheVillan

Our defence right now is not great. We all love Mings, and Engels has looked good, but they are both making several mistakes each match. I'm not totally convinced by Guilbert yet. I think Targett will come good, but needs to stay free of injuries. Taylor is not good enough, although I do think he is something of a scapegoat.

These results will cost us when from late October we have Man City, Liverpool, Wolves, Newcastle, Man United, Chelsea, Leicester. 4 points absolute max from those.

[Ctrl + c] [Ctrl + v] One good half, one bad half. McGinn excellent throughout. Terrible goals to concede, points thrown away in a game we needed to win, crap refereeing and crap VAR.

If Davis had played as many minutes as Wesley, would he have scored 2 goals? And done more to help other players? Quite possibly.

How about trying no Jota, El Ghazi or Trezeguet. None of the 3 have done enough yet to earn a regular first XI spot. Build a team around our most talented players. Heaton Guilbert Engels Mings Targett Luiz Hourihane McGinn Grealish Davis Wesley

There must be a way we can fit him in. We look a better team with him playing. Wondering if we could pack the midfield with a diamond and play two up top? Our weakness is clearly out wide, and this would remove the need for those positions. Guilbert and Targett would have big roles.

This is the first game this season I've been disgusted with Villa. Utterly appalling.

This is totally, 100% our fault. We've dropped 3 points and we only have ourselves to blame. Results like this relegate teams.

Two things are true at the same time: We were awful before and after the red card, and deserved nothing from a game. We were worrying levels below a fellow relegation candidate. The ref was appalling, he booked Grealish for passing to Lansbury, 4 fouls per side in the first half - 0 yellows for them, 4 for us.

Rubbish from start to finish today. The red barely changed anything. Game over.

I get that we shouldn't overreact, and of course we looked decent in the first half against one of the best teams in the league. But really they should have scored 6 or 7. That comedy shot from Sissoko and several others were gimmes. A lot of work to do - with a proper CDM we will look a bit more solid at the back and able to keep possession.

At first I thought, like everyone, we don't want to 'do a Fulham', sign a load of decent looking players on paper and then go down with huge debts again. But for me, we really need to sign eight players to make a complete squad. We released a lot of players, and a lot of the excellent loanees we relied on, leaving our squad looking pretty threadbare. I think we can assume that Bjarnason, Hogan and Tshibola will all go this transfer window. And we'll need two decent players in each position. Which leaves us with: GKs: Steer, Kalinic, Sarkic (fine - amazed we're looking at Butland when GK must be a low priority) RBs: Elmohamady, Guillbert (fine) CBs: Chester (3 new signings needed) LBs: Taylor (1 new signing needed) W/AMs: Grealish, Jota*, Green, El Ghazi* (fine - two new signings already made) CMs: McGinn, Hourihane, Lansbury (need one solid DM) STs: Kodjia, Davis (need one flagship striker signing - Kodjia and Davis not good enough) So factoring in we've already made two signings, I think we need 3 X CBs, 1 X LB, 1 X DM, 1 X ST. Making a total of eight signings. Realistically we don't want to/can't spend more than 10m on each player. Jota and El Ghazi were both under 4m so were bargains. I hope we sign more players in that price bracket, perhaps add in a couple of loanees, and then take a punt and spend a bit more on a striker like Gomez.

I don't know how we can trust them yet - they've owned the clubs for less than a year and have no prior history or association with Villa. This is a very bad move. We absolutely have to go up to avoid this kind of nonsense. And keep Jack. No pressure lads...

Has anyone got the Steer/Jesus photo? Asking for a friend.

Can anyone tell me: How was the shoulder charge on Mings not a foul? What was Mings booked for? Why is Brunt still on the pitch when he stamped on McGinn right in front of the ref? Bottle job ref trying to “even” the first leg. We’ve been dreadful too. Our season can’t end this way...

We’ve been poor. Very lethargic and devoid of ideas, exactly the “foot off the gas” mentality we feared. Need to to change it up big time at HT. I’m keeping the faith, Dean will pull something off here.

There is no way Smith will randomly change his keeper now, and quite right too. No idea about GG

Nothing game for us. Congrats to Norwich, worthy champions, the best team throughout. Poor, poor defeats for Boggies (plus a red, if only Robson Kanu), and Leeds. Leeds definitely a stronger team than Derby, but Derby have the momentum and the sense of injustice from spygate. Interesting few weeks ahead!

Funnily enough if Bruce hadn't of signed Nyland, and had stuck with Steer, he may have stayed in the job. Nyland single-handedly cost us at least 5 points (being very generous here) with errors no professional should make. So in a twisted way, I'm glad he is our 4th choice!

I'm trying to focus on our games, but assuming results go as you'd predict, Leeds couldn't ask for an easier game than Boro. It's basically a bye. Boro won't drop points against Rotherham and Leeds won't against Ipswich, therefore Leeds v Boro and Villa v Boggies...

I really hope we go up. There are things about the Championship I'd love to be away from: the appalling refereeing standards, the bizarre EFL decisions, the Pulis/Bruce gang of dinosaurs and scum like SHA. But at the same time, I've enjoyed it. We're competitive in games, we've got the right man in charge, the excitement of the playoffs and the league is full of surprises - the top 6 isn't set in the way it is in the PL. Very few would've backed Blades and Norwich to go up directly - most said it would be Stoke and Albion. I look at Sheff U who sold their best player (Brooks), Norwich who sold their best player (Maddison), and they both invested that money wisely. I know if we don't go up Jack will go, and Villa fans will wish him the very best. He'll go down as a club great. But I don't feel like his departure will be a disaster for us (as I once did). Smith is rebuilding the club, inside and out, and I strongly believe if we don't go up in the playoffs this time around, we'll push for the title next season.

Between McGinn, Grealish, Whelan and Hourihane we have the best midfield in the league. If we had a serious weakness (now the defence is sorted to an extent), it would be our wide attacking players. El Ghazi has been really good at times, but also goes missing and doesn't cover his full back. And he's still a far better option than Adomah or Green (although I do have hopes for Green long-term - could be my Villa-tinted specs). If he was available for 5mil or less, I'd probably take him.

Taking away all the dirty play, Leeds are a far, far better side than Derby. Unless their heads have gone completely, can't see anything but a comfortable win over two legs. I guess spygate might add to the spice. The less said about what would happen if they play Boro, the better.

SHA moles?

Is there any way Bamford can get punished too? I think not as it was essentially a dive which is a yellow, correct?