A'Villan

Just hope we start this one with everyone in their zone and on the same page. Do that and we'll get the win I think. A slow start might prove costly. I don't know much about Blackburn except for Dack, who can create something from little and will be a threat if we allow him the ball in their final third. This game falls on my birthday and I have arranged everything so all commitments and celebrating will be done on other days, so that I can enjoy the weekend to myself.

Like I said, I thought it might be insightful. Wasn't trying to be inflammatory or contentious.

Yes. I also voted. Wasn't aware that it had such support. Thanks.

Fair enough. If you say you are just asking the question, then I'll take your word for it. You've offered some recommendations of your own, which I thought might be insightful. That was part of the reason I thought I'd comment on how you've addressed Carlos. I agree that you need to be careful not to waste your time. Why scrutinise his counsel when you make your own? 'Quacks' have turned out to be pioneers more often then the mainstream would care to admit.

Partied Friday and Saturday night. Had four drinks and was surrounded by coke, didn't partake. Had a great time and showed myself I can get among it doing my own thing. Usual basketball commitments. 4 hours of scrimmage on Saturday then a match today in an hour. Not really feeling it because of mind being elsewhere. Will do an assessment piece for uni today and attend a mosque on recommendation of a Muslim friend to share condolences for what happened in NZ. Oh yeah, watched us whoop ass and propel ourselves into a playoff spot! Kind of regretting that, didn't sleep and I'll feel that on court today. F*ck it, UTV!

Take it easy fella. He's trying to lend a helping hand. Experts are human and fallible. They get it wrong too. Not trying to have a dig at you here, but tell me, if @Carlos_the_third has done extensive reading, including feedback from people who testify to it, that has credibility, no? Even if he hasn't, it's just a recommendation, people can either explore it further or not. Empirical evidence and scientific method offer only partial truths.

If it hasn't already been mentioned in this thread, a senator in Australia has come out and said that allowing Muslims to immigrate is the cause of the attack. He also mentioned that while they are the victims today, Muslims are usually the perpetrators. His integrity doesn't end there.. He was egged by a teenager after his comments and the senator then punched this teenager twice in the face and his men then proceeded to headlock the teen and ground him. I don't want to give this guy a greater platform, but he also made a 'final solution' speech on immigration. His name is Anning. But today is not about Anning and neither is our future.

Wrote to my friend this morning asking what I could do to support the Muslim community. It's so far beyond what happened in NZ. I have hundreds of Muslim friends and acquaintances and while I don't share their beliefs, we have wonderful discussions and they are beautiful people. I'm writing a letter and attending a mosque today. The line has been crossed so many times it's worn out of existence. I won't trade in humanity for patriotism.

Tuned in late but just chuffed with what I did see and that we are back in the promotion hunt! 4am so I'm well and truly done but the rest of you revel in this! I'll join you in the morning.

Bit absent minded of me.. Thanks for the heads up.

Sorry mods

This sums it up nicely. The netball comment cuts deep though.

I was just having a vent/rant. Basically though, say a football referee called for a free kick in your own half when the call should have been for a penalty kick.

Paid referees who are meant to be of a certain standard but aren't. Filled in for my brothers domestic basketball team last night, as I play in Australia's third tier usually, domestic games are more for a bit of fun than a challenge. They played zone defense and so I would just launch 3's as they weren't stepping out no matter how many I hit. Think I had over 20 points from 3's alone. Fun times. However this game did go down to the wire, and thanks to a mistake from the referee and then myself, we could have lost the game. In the final stages with the score at 41-40, I was fouled in the back-court and should have gone to the free-throw line because of accumulated fouls. I thought we were down at that stage and having missed 2 or 3 shots all game and 100% from the free-throw I thought "you beauty". Then this referee, who's been out of position and made some poor calls throughout, tells me it's a side ball. No way Jose! I tell her to go and ask her colleague because its without doubt free-throws, him and I had just discussed moments ago that next foul was to the line. She says 'side ball' and me being me I let it go. That was my first mistake. I take the side ball and throw a bad pass, unforced error, my first all game and probably done out of frustration because I threw the pass too hard and slightly off. Thankfully we were actually up and the opposition failed to make the most of the turnover. We went the other end and scored another. I've been a qualified referee before and even entry level standards if followed allow a game to run smoothly and fairly. This chick has been around for years.

WBA? Up there, however I would actually say Stoke have a better squad on paper. I say bring on anyone, anytime. In the league we've only been done in by more than a single goal twice under Smith. Shows we've been in every contest.

Let's just enjoy Jack's success rather than ridiculing anyone who didn't foresee it like we did. If they don't enjoy his play then it's their loss. I think I know which poster people are referring to, as I can only think of one who has been consistent and insistent on expressing how Grealish is overrated. This poster and I have shared our contrasting views and I have to say that I have never read a post from them saying Grealish is a poor player. He won't be as good as people suggest is the message I was getting. Personally I find it baffling that someone doesn't get excited for Villa with Grealish on the ball. Each to their own I guess.

Voicing praise and favour is easy in times of prosperity, just like it is to be chummy and in good spirits when celebrating achievement. For me, one of the biggest indicators that we are in good hands with Smith has come from moments where the desired result eluded us. Take the game at Stoke for example. We managed 62% possession and more shots than Stoke, at their stadium. Our pass accuracy was 84% and theirs was 73%. As midfield and wide players are responsible for linking defense and attack, they are most responsible for ball retention and require the skill and nous necessary for that. If you look at the personnel in midfield and out wide for that fixture against Stoke, Stoke have a far more accomplished lineup. Where they are currently is not the point. Who would you pick to win the contest? Joe Allen and Charlie Adam or Glen Whelan and Conor Hourihane to be more effective with the ball at their feet? Like them or not, the former are the more accomplished and individually skilled with the ball at their feet, yet they lost to the latter when the two met. Add to this that Stoke had a three man midfield and we had a two man midfield, as well as their wide men being more established than ours, you see that Smith was at work. We might not be trailblazing the world of football at the moment, however I believe that we are in capable hands with Smith. Hopefully he proves me right.

Win and we put ourselves in a good position to make the play-offs, so it's a statement of intent insofar that we will have taken points from a rival to go higher on the table. However I wouldn't call it momentum just yet. We have 10 games to play which we need to be winning most of. I have plenty of confidence in Smith and the team we have at current but fail to continue winning and 3 wins could be considered a blip.

Correct me if I'm wrong but Wolves have achieved European football in their first season out of the Championship. We may still be promoted this year. Imagine playing a lead role in carrying your club out of despair and on to glory at the highest level once more. I'd take that over scoring a winner against Birmingham. I've never met Grealish in my life, so I'm not going to pretend to know or speak for his personal goals and ambitions. I can only hope he has dreams of continuing at Villa. On another note, what about the goal versus Derby? I thought his last volley from the top of the box was world class..

Glad that we have gotten the result against two promotion rivals and are still in the mix. We needed them. Puts us in position to push on against Forest and close the deficit to a single win between us and a play-off place. Over the months of Smith's tenure I think he has shown enough to be afforded the confidence to take us forward for the foreseeable future. We've had some spells of poor play and that has cost us in regards to points accumulated. We've also dropped points when the balance of play was in our favour. Not good. However, we have also seen evidence of a team that can and will take it to the best in the division and does so playing to create opportunities on the ball. This requires taking measured risks, the skill to execute, cohesion of team through understanding of roles, and the implementation of strategy as guidance. I would like to share with those who have expressed doubts about Smith that in 2016/17 Bruce took over in October, the same month as Smith did last year. Bruce had greater margins of defeat against the lesser clubs than what Smith has, on the flipside, Smith has had greater margins of victory and against top clubs. Bruce had only two victories of a margin greater than a single goal in the same time that Smith has achieved five victories of two goals or more. Bruce had four losses of a margin greater than two goals, whereas Smith has two. May I remind people Bruce so nearly got us promoted in his following season. Also, while not drastically different in points gained on the League Table, Smith is on course to achieve a better record than Bruce did in his first season. I hope you see where I am going with this by now, which brings me to my final point. Not only are results better under Smith than they were under Bruce, the approach is too. On the ball, we are league leaders in nearly every area of the game under Smith. Chances created, shots, possession, key passes, pass accuracy, crosses etc. Without the ball, we are relegation material in defensive areas of the game. Rectifying this will be pivotal in whether Smith takes us to promotion. No avoiding that. Under Bruce, it was the opposite in his first season. We had the 5th best defense in the competition, yet were relegation material in attack. 21st for goals scored. Bruce went on to finish 4th and make it through to the play-off final. Middlesbrough and Fulham were the equal best form side going in to play-offs in 2017/18. So if Smith is doing better than Bruce, and Bruce only fell at the final hurdle, you can see my hope that we may have someone who can get us across the line in Smith.

Frustratingly sad? When the consequences of misunderstanding lead to dissonance or tragedy it can be. Do you think that feeling, in itself, shapes our reality though? That you are aware of your fallible perceptions allows you to free yourself from the constraints of misconception and explore the universe for greater truth. So I hope you appreciate your talent and intellect in being able to identify when you've made an error, that is as important as being conscious of the mistake. You know nothing until you realise that. Wisdom is found in awareness of our ignorance. The omniscient master is the eternal student. Inquiry is fatal to certainty. The only thing certain is the unforeseen. When nothing is certain, anything is possible. People tend to become what is believed possible for themselves. Assumptions about reality are dangerous to make, and like anything dangerous to make, if you make a mistake you can find yourself in trouble.

That was the one. Interesting. I reckon you'd be right. Can't see it being the same in Somali or Swahili either.

Before my time. I started watching Villa every week in 2010, under Houllier. Had he not got sick, we might've come along okay. Supporters were moaning their eye balls out about relegation. We finished 9th though. I was watching like 5-6 games of football per week back then. While I knew nothing of the Villa that had come before me, I had much to make comparison to, and it wasn't as bad as most were making out.

I don't know about this one. My brother seems to think that the word for pineapple is the same in every language universally except for English?