DaveAV1

He might if they don't come up and we can sell him his very own Aston Villa project. I was keen on him before Bruce, but to be fair my knowledge of him has only been gleaned from t'interweb. What I have found to be the most disappointing and frustrating aspects of this season though, has been the complete lack of competence and basics we have shown on the pitch. Whilst desirable, modern and forward thinking football shouldn't be essential in this division. We're not trying to compete with the top of the Premier League. With the amount we've spent a decent steady manager who can motivate the players, should have us competing for a play off place not nervously looking over our shoulders. To be fair, that's what I thought we were getting with Bruce!

I'd say he was the most improved player, but he had set the benchmark a little low. I think he's a decent midfielder for a couple of million in an area where we were short. He does appear to lack any pace though.

"Belongingness", now there's a fine word. Give The Oxford English Dictionary a call! You've got to love The Doc

When Southampton sacked Nigel Adkins and brought in Pocettino, I was surprised and thought they were mad. They were above the relegation places, if not by much, and I thought that the disruption would kill them. I was also quite pleased that they'd made this "terrible" mistake as we were of course in the mix too. My point is, just sacking the manager with no game plan just to go through the same cycle is pointless. However if we have a proper plan, with someone in mind who can fulfill that plan, then the time is always right. Southampton were in the Prem and at the time doing as well as anyone had expected. We are in the Championship and doing considerably worse than anyone expected. If we have a plan and the right guy get it done!

Get him in then, and make Eastie head of coaching recruitment

That's not a terrible shout. Were they at Man U at the same time?

What baffles me, and the lads I go down the Villa with, is what is it that Bruce, or whoever does the halftime talk, actually says? Because whatever it is they need to stop saying it. No matter how well or badly we have played in the first half, the second is almost invariably worse. Teams always seem to come out in the second half re-energised, and we seem to let the whole tempo of the game be dictated by the opposition. Why????

There were two guys behind me, (upper Holte), and the vitriol they had for Taylor was outrageous. We hadn't played 5 minutes and one of them called him a "useless sheep shagging bastard". It turns out they were Amavi fans, who they referred to as the best player we had at the club. For the record I think Amavi is a good player as a wing back, but in recent games has been poor and made a lot of mistakes. But to slag a player in a Villa shirt like that, particularly on his debut, was disgusting. I hadn't seem them before and they sounded like a pair of FIFA playing cliche sprouting knobs. Anyway that's that off my chest and nobody got thumped!

I think essentially, to sum up what sne has said above, very well laid out and argued if I may say so, is that the single most important thing in modern football is money. Whilst it can't guarantee success, lack of it almost certainly makes it extremely difficult. Even Leicester, remarkable though the achievement was last season, had a very supportive owner who had invested a reasonably decent amount. Lerner imvested plenty in the early years, but it was mismanaged by a combination of MON and a complete lack of management structure above him. Lerner eventually became bored and disolutioned and so the opportunity was lost. I blame him and MON in almost equal measures, but ultimately Lerner because he was the guy, supposedly, in charge. We must be wary of that happening again. Owners are like players, yes they kiss the badge and profess undying love, but ultimately the majority aren't like us. It's not in their hearts or their blood. They chose, they weren't chosen. The time is now, we mustn't squander it again.

I agree it's a bit of a long shot, but even after a complete January overhaul, we only have one average, aging, injury prone defensive midfielder. So you can surely understand my desperation!

That was sung during BFR's reign. I don't know why it died out. Also I believe there was actually a song recorded called, "Ooh Ahh Paul McGrath", which made the charts in Ireland, if not no.1

Yes we have a friend in Jesus Yes we have a friend in God Yes we have a friend in Jesus And his name is Paul McGrath Ooh Ahh Paul McGrath, say ooh ahh Paul McGrath!

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.