DaveAV1

When Petrov came to us he was billed as an attacking midfielder. However he dropped back further into the midfield and did well in that roll. Could Gardener do the same? His most obvious attribute is his great shooting, but that doesn't have to disappear from his game as a holding midfielder. Arriving late when the ball is cleared to the edge of the box he'd be in a perfect position to shoot. Whether he can do the rest of it of course is another matter.

Agreed. I moan all the time about the ball being kicked away and nothing given. At least not until the 10th time it happens and in the 89th minute. While I'm on my soap box, it drives me mad when goal keepers waste time for virtually the whole of the second half and then get booked in injury time. Damage done, they'll take that. Book them with 30 minutes to go and see how long they take picking the right blade of grass to put the ball on! Off topic sorry.

The second booking I think we can all agree was one of those, "seen them given, seem them not given". Hard to argue with what ever the decision the ref makes. It was the first booking that was harsh, how many times do we see a booking for kicking the ball away in the first half? Very rarely I would suggest and he didn't really hoof it into row Z. Ok if it was late in the second half in a tight match then that's fair enough. Rules are rules you may say, but refs are so inconsistent that isn't how it plays out and to be fair the ref has some discretion and can take into account the state of play at the time. What would we be gaining from wasting time in the 30th minute or when ever it was? We're only really debating this because it's Jack Grealish, who many of us feel frustrated with and because the rest of the team are causing equal frustrations. Hopefully in a few weeks time we will only be arguing about who scored the best goal in our latest 4 goal hammering of someone who dared to stand in our way

You believe we will be comfortably in the play off places by then?

I think they will give him until the end of the season at least. If we finish strongly then he will get a he summer, but not huge amounts of money. Goal keeper and central defence being the main areas to spend on. I believe however that the clock is ticking for him and Round, Wyness and Xia will have started looking for his successor. Xia made a comment soon after Bruce arrived, which basically said they had only employed him to get us up, but he had been impressed with him so he might stay on in the Prem if he gets us there. Clearly he doesn't see him as a man to take us massively forward, so he won't hesitate to pull the trigger in the summer if we're not making significant progress by then.

Despite just sort of defending him, that's spot on. Our goal, despite being made by Jack with a very good pass, was a fine example of a great finish by a confident, on form player, who doesn't need 2 or 3 touches before he makes his play.

Like many people I think Grealish has a long way to go before he's "made it". If he ever does. However the fire directed at him tonight, although coming from the heart, is a little harsh. His second booking was unwise, but really not malicious. The first booking was frankly ridiculous. Yes he's a very easy target when things are going wrong, and he has brought that on himself. But when was the last time any of us saw a booking for kicking the ball away in the first half at nil nil? Besides that, it looked like he kicked it to their goalie, not into row Z. The ref wanted his moment and added to it by booking Hogan for not retreating quickly enough. Has anyone seen that happen in the first half very often either? We can all look at reasons, and find, mostly justifiably, reasons for every defeat. Yes Johnstone spilt the ball, but so did their goalie but it bounced away harmlessly. We are going through a period when we can buy a win. Coming on top of the last 5 or 6 years compounds the depression for us and also is in part the reason. I'm not trying to make excuses for anyone, but sometimes in life, as many of us know, everything just goes to shit no matter what you do. But also, those of us who have got past 50, know that eventually the sun comes out again.

Sadly I think you're probably right. But a man's got to have a dream.....

I largely agree with you, we certainly don't look like a premier team at the moment. However if we found the kind of form we would need to get up from this position, then we would at least have a lot more confidence and team spirit than we currently have.

Employ a teenager while they still know everything.

With Gabby injured for now, and even if he wasn't injured, RHM should get a place on the bench amd with 18 more games he'll get get plenty of pitch time if he's as good as we all hope. The whole thing may have worked out for the best. Introducing him in a controlled manner, rather than chucking him in out of necessity and saying,"Go on son save our season". No matter how much talent the kid has, he's still just a kid with a lot to learn before he gets to the top. Which he hopefully will and in a Villa shirt.

Ah ok my mistake. Apologies smg and thanks VILLAMARV for putting me right. I get a bit defensive about the Villa at times!

I agree Eastie. Has anyone ever started a complete new midfield in the middle of a season before? It was a risky decision by Bruce and it didn't come off. However defensively we were garbage, James Chester who has been great up to tonight had a mare. These things happen, but they need game time together and will improve. Promotion this season is looking increasingly unlikely, but if we can finish the season strongly we will have the basis of a well bedded in team for next season. There seems to a lot of throwing out of the baby with the bath water tonight. Patience might be in short supply after what we've been through in the last few years, but we have to find a bit more yet.

Well you seem to be condemning him before he's kicked a ball. You know best I guess.

He still has to pass his medical. I'm sure it's a formality. It is isn't it.............?

It's rather splendid. If only we'd thought of it years ago.

Keith Wyness deserves a lot of credit for what has been happening in this transfer window. We seem to have been doing business how we want to do business, instead of being pushed about by other clubs, players and their agents as we have been in the past.

I completely agree.

There has been a story about Elphick going. I'm no fan, but I can't imagine we'd let him go now. Unless however we really rate this lad? Still seems unlikely though.

All great goal scorers are "lucky". It's that "luck" that you pay the money for. Don't forget Peter Withe had the luckiest shin in Europe

Hopefully not, and that he has made a big difference since coming in. I don't think he would have got involved until he was officially behind his desk otherwise he would have been more resistant to the wholesale changes now. Plus the first thing he did was sack Paddy Reilly, at whose feet the blame probably lies for last summer's "indifferent" transfer window.

He's slagging off our Tony for tweeting info to us fans, something we all love. And also had a pop for referring to Villa as "his" club. Well technically it is, but actions speak louder than words and Dr T has done more to involve us all in our club than any owner in my lifetime. Collymore is a desperate attention seeker with nothing sensible to say. He sat a couple of seats behind me in the upper Holte, earlier this season, can't remember which game but it was under RDM AMD surprise surprise we drew. When we scored I glanced back at Collymore and saw the most fake, "look at me" celebration I've ever seen. It was pathetic and looked like he was an extra in some crap TV drama, directed by some lovey who would rather be at the opera, but thinks footie is jolly splendid for the poor people to watch. Knob!

Is he talking about RMC?

Surely RHM can sign his contract anytime? All these new arrivals will give the club such a buzz, perhaps he won't want to be on the outside looking in. Unless he and/or his advisors are so far up themselves that they're already looking through electric gate brochures?

We've all been assuming, well I have anyway, that Hogan is Bruce's mystery signing. But what if he's not and we have someone else lined up too?