CarewsEyebrowDesigner

45 minutes ago, useless said:

For the amount of hate Holloway receives from Villa fans, his opinion still seems to hold a lot of sway. Before this prediction of his I hardly saw anyone else suggesting that we'd finish in the bottom half, now suddenly a plethora of fans on social media, are suggesting precisely that.

Or perhaps he voiced an opinion held by many but one which few were willing to say due to the optimism surrounding the club and a perceived pressure from other, vocal, fans who think breaking the party line (positivity! promotion!) is tantamount to treason.

There are a lot of games in the Championship, and most teams will have spells of good form and bad form. Consistency is absolutely key and at the moment Newcastle (because of their quality) and Brighton (because they are settled) are probably going to get of to good starts and stay ahead. At best we can have a middling start, get a few quality players in, then go on a good run and finish in the playoff spots. If we want to avoid that and finish 1st or 2nd, we need to get off to a flyer and stay there and I just can't see that right now when there are at least 2 better teams in the division.

I think we'll be playing fairly dour and defensive football under Di Matteo which will solidify us in mid-table but the lack of creativity and goals (currently) will prevent us from pushing on. I'm OK with stability this season as we have been on a downward trajectory for years and putting a halt to that is the priority. At this stage I'd take scraping into the play-offs because I think that is the best we can do. I'm not totally convinced that Di Matteo is the guy to rebuild us but he has a good enough coaching set up and seems a good enough person that I'm happy to give him a chance.

I think mid-table is where we are right now unless major investment happens. If we lose a few key players and don't replace them adequately we could go down again, easily.

Can't see it at the moment. Need more quality all over the pitch.

Spanked on Sunday.

Panic buy on Monday.

Interesting to see people running around for historical parallels for Trump. I don't think that is much use. He's a truly modern candidate in that he takes bits and pieces from here, there, and everywhere and is more concerned about selling his brand than his policy because policy can change on a whim when you have no real principles. Even the worst US presidents had something driving them, however questionable, whereas Trump is running because Trump is a straight up, grade A narcissist and sees 'President Trump' as the ultimate gratification.

Anyone who watched Uruguay without Suarez can answer a positive 'yes' to that question.

At the moment I'm thinking he may be another Lerner, only Lerner in the final years rather than the first few. Being cautious with whatever money he has is fair enough, as clubs desperate for promotion can often be taken to the cleaners by unscrupulous agents, but at best that caution is resulting in us going into a crucial season unprepared and that is a worrying sign.

I liked Zootropolis a lot too. I'd have it on par with Big Hero 6 as the best animations of the last few years.

Looking forward to the rest of the year, I've a few on my 'must watch' list.

This looks great/heartbreaking

This looks essential

This has Emily Blunt and the book is apparently a good yarn.

This because anything by Andrea Arnold is worth watching

This because Weiner Dogs

And finally this because it's by Jim Jaramush

i love hobbits

We're going to wait until the end of the window and then panic buy while our better players leave.

I think he'll score a bundle, if he stays fit. First pick for Fantasy Football.

Oh god it is all different and it doesn't remember the old email I used which I've since been deleted. Time for some faffing about before I can join and make some dodgy calls on a few players.

Setting up new account & unable to pick Aston Villa as favourite club. Reality hit hard

I want to play the new Zelda so I may get an NX if it's decent, or just get a cheapo Wii U if it isn't.

It's a decent sequel

Bourne worked because it captured an uneasy feeling that we were all being watched by the powers that be... and as it turned out we are. Now that we know that we are being watched, the mood has changed to 'what can we do about it, if anything at all' (or more troubling 'oh well, it's for the best') and perhaps we aren't looking for more films to show us that people at computers are monitoring our phone calls. So yes, Bourne was the right movie at the right time, but like Bond it has a problem of remaining relevant in a world that is moving at quite a pace toward some unknown and most likely unpleasant destination.

Enjoyed Stranger Things but it kind of reminded me of Ready Player One in that quite a lot of the enjoyment was from the references and riffs on other works which kind of makes you want to be watching or reading those things instead. I'm not sure if playing on nostalgia to that degree is a good way to go about things, especially when the plot itself isn't particularly  original, and the characters arepretty meh.

We'll lose more key players when PL teams hit the panic button at the end of the window. We better be prepared.

So our better players will be nicked over the next month, leaving us with the overpaid shite and a hell of a lot of work to do to make the team promotion material. Great.

I'm enjoying Stranger Things, but I have the feeling it's going to jump the shark at any moment and go full Wayward Pines. Two episodes left and I really hope they stick the landing.

Room is exceptional. Very difficult to make the kind of film they did given the subject matter.

Saw the new Kong trailer. Such a good cast but it looks meh. Still, Kong v Godzilla? I'm in.

When I hit a certain age and my body starts to sag a little, I will 100% start swimming nude at nudist/naturist beaches. Closest one is in the Republic, though. Not keen on that sort of thing up here.

A well shaved scrotum.

Ninetails or GTFO

Pikachu is an overrated cry baby.