villaglint

And the first, Lowton's defending since he came back has been painful to watch. You would have thought after a bit of time out he would be raring to go but he looks really off the pace at the minute. Yeah I'm another in the he deserves a go, can't do any worse camp

Sounds like Jacks in good hands with your Dad !

She went from devil to angel in the space of 24hrs. I have no idea why.

Didn't see the game on Sat but from comments and highlights it looks like Marc did himself no harm at all again this weekend. Really heartening to see because I thought he was dead and buried from a premier league perspective. Shows the difference a bit of confidence and desire can make to a player. We should all probably remember think his highs and lows when evaluating Lowton, Westwood, Baker, Benteke and most importantly Weimann. (Hands up I'm as guilty as anyone for this)

We've had an absolute angel of a baby girl for the last 2 years but she now seems to have been reincarnated as the devil. She had about 9/10 mega meltdown tantrums yesterday over the littlest things. Genuinely a bit scared of her today, been going 2 hrs today an tantrums yet!

Very bad day!

Ciggies - HH foretold this in his penultimate hurra. Not a great big name but someone who will get others playing better around him because of the way he plays and his experience. Hoolahan fits that to a T and will help us a lot (I hope) especially at home

Give me a bit of Zaha on loan and I'm done

One of very very few players that fits HH description. Short term fix but a bug yes from me always liked him

It was a ridiculous level of insight to be fair. The club were stopping the press reporting Kozak for sometime yesterday so are obviously pissed it got out elsewhere.

No - equal on points for tenth place is not "in a relegation battle". That doesn't mean that we couldn't get drawn into a relegation battle at some stage, but at the moment we are not Sorry VillaCas I'm normally more in agreement with you than a lot of other posters on here but I can't agree with that. Everyone below Southampton currently is in a relegation battle. I know it seems ridiculous to say you can be 10th or equal 10th and fighting relegation but it is so close down there (and has been for a few years) that about half the league faces the very real prospect of relegation most years. We may well get out early and we all really really hope we do!

Think it's safe to assume after his comments that a number of players will be rested

I would imagine he'll invest in a sensible set of shin pads after he first gets "tackled" by Ivanovic

The article says we may sign one or two and possibly a loan which is exactly what HH has said. Where it differs is that Nursery says we have no names or targets in mind which seems to be unlikely if we wanted to bring someone you'd have thought we may have an idea who that might be! He's got an article to write and has gone for known unknowns. Nothing to see here. Next

I don't think it's unfair for people to say that Kozak has been surprisingly poor at general hold play and that Helenius maybe able to match him or add something different in this regard. Kozak has though showed excellent strikers nous for being in the right place and making his chances count. The real question is whether Helenius or Bowery will be able to match him in this respect. Personally I'll be preying Benteke stays fit

Best to burn £8m now than to burn £50m+ in the summer by dropping down a division. Yes see Bolton debts for confirmation that relegation is a fate worse than death

Think Delph needs a rest, looked very tired in 2nd half yesterday, as did a lot if them. Be a good game for Sylla this one I reckon

I think you'll find he could barely breath after making that run. If you watched the game they zoomed in on him and he was blowing out his arse at that point in the game so he did well to make the run in the first place. Definitely wasn't sulking, played to the end and gave it his all despite barely being able to walk

Looked much sharper today. Very unlucky with his shot which was his only real chance. He was dead on his feet after an hour so fair play to him for keeping going. He is absolutely essential to the way we play

Yep back to the heart attack games. Tough to handle with a hangover. We would have certainly conceded in this game last season so all credit to them for the win. Both teams were visibly knackered but even so the quality in this league is scary at times

Is be really happy with Hoolahan that's a decent shout actually.

Much appreciated post as always HH. I think everything you've said was fair maybe it was too much too soon. Think we all wanted to push on from last year and optimism has faded badly to frustration at another years relegation battle. I hope we are able to get the players in Jan to make a difference. I hope we stay up and he gets the chance to do it properly. To rebuild with barely any money was always a brutal task

Without a doubt we're in for another big battle have been for some time. Trekkers got us out of it last time. Really need that player back and Vlaar too.

I'm still in the camp that doesn't see any good in sacking another manager. Owner is the bigger issue.

I don't see that constantly sacking managers and starting again is going to solve the problems of years of under investment and selling our best players. However you live and die by your transfers and results and then performances. Right now this summers dealings are looking pretty poor and the results are there for everyone to see. The performances are just for the unfortunate to see.