Turamber

haha on IraqGoals? I thought it was a close up of Sidwell

Eh? To improve the atmosphere.... ?

Never mind signing players, we should transfer some of their fans

Heskey playing well, good run just then, and looking lively in the box too when he gets a chance. This formation should suit Shorey, maybe he can do something for us coming forward.

We're playing okay. Not sure what people expect -- team is bound to be low on confidence after Saturday and then going 1-0 down within the first few seconds. We've battled back into the game pretty well, most players are having reasonable games.

Beye is getting forward much more than he did on Saturday, lovely first time cross earlier.

Nice composure from Heskey there, dropping back into midfield and keeping possession. In fact we're looking very tasty going forward.

We look very composed now, but no replays of how we got 1-0 behind? :S

What happened? I was just looking for another service to replace frigging useless Radio WM then... bam. And LaursenLegend - do you mean "obvious" or "ominous"?

MON sounds very tired, and rather ill, on Radio WM...

A team designed to be solid, might see Gabby or Delph later in the game.

According to Wiki he is a "French born Senagalese footballer". Something about Senegal being subject to France until 1960 I suppose. Definitely, very definitely, not English though.

We signed a highly experienced French right back for a mere £2.5m, but many people on this site seem to think its the worst thing ever and proof that MON is mad or having a breakdown, or something... Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

The phrase 'we've only won twice in 17 games' is bringing a wry smile from my lips when I hear it now. Even if we go on a great run and win our next four games it will be only five games in 21 games. The season has restarted, time to forget about last seasons statistics.

At what point would you start to re-think your position on Martin O'Neill? If we were in the bottom three, or too close to, at Christmas. How far does your support go at a critical time in our (and other teams') chase for the top 4? I'll be there every home game that I can be there, clapping, cheering and screaming encouragement to my team. No boos from this fan. What does Martin have to do (or not do) before you begin allowing yourself to think 'Hold on a second Martin sort it out'? Surely your support only goes so far? Only goes to a point? I want to know what that point is. Have we already reached it? I don't understand everything he does. All managers make some strange choices, but I have faith at this time that his decisions will, on balance, work out to be for the best. If he doesn't manage to bring in some more players between now and the end of the month I will be disappointed, but I will still keep believing. It could well be that we don't have the money we thought we had, or it could be that the players we need to push us to the next level are not available. But I admit it would put a little seed of doubt there. We have a tough start to the season so I am not going to jump on him if results don't go our way for a while yet. I don't care about the style of our football, I like our wingers and our pacy play. He'll have to go some way yet with me that the progress he's made, consistent progress for three seasons, would be discounted. Only the spectre of relegation could make me feel that getting a replacement in *might* be beneficial.

This thread seems to be less questions for the General and more a diatribe against anything people don't like. I'd just like to voice General that much of the fanbase is four square behind the management and the owner... yes we're disappointed by the display against Wigan but we don't think the sky is falling. Please keep up the good work!

Cuellar was one of our better players yesterday. It couldn't have been easy having midfielders breaking from deep at you whilst the midfield gave little or no cover and Davies and Shorey having very bad off days. He won a lot in the air, never shirked a challenge and generally retained possession with his passing. I can remember a couple of clearances that he could have done better with but, when people have taken a dislike to a player, they will remember those first and last and not the good things a player does. Thankfully your poll reveals not all Villa fans carry white canes

Oh dear. It made me laugh anyway.

It was in the English papers, so you may have missed it. And yes Ashley dives far too much, needs to cut it out. But he is only one player in our team, Chelsea do it all the time -- they are trained to take every advantage they can however much cheating or gamesmanship is involved.

The press clearly reported that Hiddink was committed to the Russian team. If he wouldn't manage Chelsea why do you think he'd come to Villa? Take off those claret and blue specs please. Would you also be happy with Villa playing the time-wasting crap that Chelsea played under him? I don't give a monkeys about short passing/long passing but I revile cheating and gamesmanship.

Teams don't finish sixth in the Premier League due to luck, let alone doing that twice. Silly comments really.

Good post Fordy909, I don't agree with all of it, but definitely with the main message. We didn't seem at all prepared for the game yesterday and Petrov didn't appear fully fit, which was a worry. I think we were set-up to play a defensive Wigan and got cought cold by their willingness to attack us. Didn't like the panic I saw on the pitch and the lack of fight and application. But I am sure the manager won't like it either. 4-5-1 would shore things up for now, but I don't see it as a long term formation. We are even more predictable with that formation and create very little. But it may help Davies get some confidence and help to get the best out of Petrov.

It is just my opinion. I don't see it as "shit-stirring or conflictive", rather a call for more realistic expectations and less booing. Yes, I know people have the right to boo but I don't see it as helpful in the slightest.

If teams had a "right" to beat each other it would make for a very boring season, no? Add to that the fact that we've never beaten Wigan at home in the Premier League and expectations were a little too high yesterday. Although for the first 15-20 minutes it looked like we'd get our first win over them, then we capitulated in a fashion that only the Villa can do. It brought back a lot of memories from years gone by, and not good ones!

Honestly I think a lot of our more negative posters really enjoyed that game yesterday. There are all sorts of posters mentioning how 'they knew it was coming', and pointing out how they've been doomsaying for the last three years etc etc. I can imagine them sitting at their keyboard, rubbing their hands with glee as they let loose all their frustration. Expectations at Villa Park are ridiculous these days. We have no right to beat Wigan. We have the right to see effort and application from our players (something which we didn't see from most of the team yesterday). We have no right to see fancy dan football played out by world class players. We are on our way to being the next Newcastle in terms of expectations. Our booing and negativity and lack of support to team and management are all our very own though.