jacketspuds

It is but losing to Chelsea and seeing them go a further 3 points ahead would have been a lot better than seeing Swansea take 3 points off us and go above us in the league. If the results were the other way around Swansea would only be on 20 points instead of 23.

if Rodgers or any Villa manager tried this they would fail with our players adn would lead to abuse on these pages So that's it then. We are doomed to play shit football for the next 3 seasons until the current squad is cleared out. Regardless of manager. Sorry but that is a cop-out excuse. McLeish does nothing to help our situation. We are a poor team and to again lose at home, and concede a goal from Routledge, is even more of a joke.

He clearly is a merc. Get rid if it means we can pay off AMC and get a manger in who can spend the rest on good players.

Surely any manager worth his salt could have inspired a decent performance from the team that we had out today after the Chelsea result. I'd even expect Avram Grant to have got a result today but McLeish is just useless. I don't care if we lose to teams above us because they will always be there, but we need to get results against teams around and below us as this will dictate whether or not we stay in this league.

He had 86 mins plus injury to get it right. We are shit at home because we are a counter-attacking team. McLeish can not get us playing any other way. We need a top manager in, which is the problem, because who would want to manage this **** titanic-esque club.

I'm praying that I wasn't one of those but I was so **** for the Chelsea game I can't remember. I don't think I did as I knew we'd **** up today.

**** me can't we just have 2 games without a shit performance. McLeish is still crap in my eyes. One win against Chelsea doesn't change a thing. The players are also the problem but we need a manager who bollocks them for being so inconsistent. I still think he needs to go. Lambert in for me.

Bored of our inconsistency. Players don't give a shit half the time. Manager is clearly incompetent. I'm still in the McLeish out camp.

I never fast travel on these games. Currently motoring through Fallout 3 and loving the random encounters.

Loving watching Phil Thompson on SSN rolling his eyes as Alan Mac states Bent will cost Liverpool more than £24m and Liverpool aren't in the title race.

Really need to be solid today and get 3 points. Just to give us a bit of breathing space over those below us. Same lineup as against Chelsea but would swap Albrighton for Bent so we have more of a goal threat. Keeping Ireland fired up is the key as we have missed a number 10 type player since Merson. Back to back wins would be nice.

I don't dislike Liverpool but to come on here and try to justify shite purchases like Adam, Henderson, Carroll & Downing by claiming you can't buy CL standard players yet is laughable. You bought Suarez for **** sake, he should be playing at a much better club than Liverpool. (I did not say bigger club as it is clear Liverpool are still a massive club in European football). But to spunk nearly £85m on 4 average PL players is ludicrous. If Commolli can convince the owners to get Suarez & Enrique (who I also think is CL standard) surely there are better players you can get for £85m. If Bent goes to you then fair enough. Just expect him to jump ship again the next time a CL club comes calling.

McLeish also said... "If Benty and Emile were both ruled out we would definitely be well down in terms of the experienced strikers. We would have to have a good think about that at HQ." Am I right in assuming that we are probably in for a striker in the window? Let's wish Heskey a speedy recovery. Better rest that achilles until June Emile.

Bent needs to play when we have Gabby, CNZ and Albrighton (preferably Junior Hoilett) attacking with him. I would have put money on Bent putting away the chance Delfouneso had too as he had to stretch to get the shot away and had no control. Bent would've been there and smashed the ball into the net. Selling Bent would be foolish. We need to get rid of the likes of Ireland, Beye, Hutton, Collins & Heskey before we even consider losing our best striker.

We did ok against Arsenal but were average against a gash Stoke team. I sense another game like Spurs/Man Utd where McLeish will set us up not to concede, only to go 1-0 down from a corner in the first 10 minutes. We will then sit back for the rest of the game praying not to lose by more than 2 goals. But it will finish 5-0 to Chelsea.

I think if Given played last night we'd have conceded from a Delap throw-in but fairplay to Guzan he looked very good all game.

Not sure what that proves It proves that Mr. T is a villa fan.

I would not be surprised if he left. Depends if the club are openly shopping him around or if Bent will push a move himself. Right now I honestly couldn't give a shit if he left as it would fit nicely into the last 18 months of gash that we have had to endure.

He's not even wearing the snakeskin trousers. Although his Mrs has terrible fashion sense, but we already knew that. Let's hope he can get back to somewhere close to his Man City form.

I have no problems with cutting back. But to have to play negative cowardly football, much like Blues did last season, is not acceptable. The issue is not Lerner's unwillingness to back McLeish, as he has done this for the right reasons. However, not only are we being asset stripped to a certain degree we also have a manager who's track record is shit. Even the media are starting to pick up on the negative playing style, which is exactly the same as he played at Blues. Lerner is trying to do the right things for our club. If he really wants to do the right thing he should boot McLeish for no other reason than he should never have got the job in the 1st place.

Yeah but even if we had Stoke's luck it would make no difference because we rarely have more than 2 players in the opposition half when attacking. Stoke at least attacked Spurs in that game, rode their luck massively, but were in a position to score 2 goals. When we played Spurs & Man Utd I don't think we had 2 shots. Heskey's doesn't count cos for something to be classified a shot it must at least go out for a goalkick.

Exactly, playing not to lose is a cowardly and piss poor way to manage. Look at Stoke (putting shit football aside for a minute). They've lost 1 more game than us this season but sit a nice 5 points above us in the league. They at least have a go. It can mean the difference between staying in the league an not. And even if we avoid relegation, which I expect, from financial perspective we should be aiming to finish as high as possible as this will lead to increased prize money for the season.

I'm not pissed because we don't play like Arsenal. I'm pissed that we play like Birmingham. We are, as many (including journalists) have alluded to, even a shitter version of Birmingham because not only are we struggling to score but we can't defend. We have a squad with Bent, Agbonlahor, N'Zogbia, Bannan, Albrighton, (Heskey) & Ireland in yet our manager somehow manages to **** it all up. There is not a single team outside of Man City, Man Utd and probably Chelsea that would not happily take some of that attacking talent off our hands. It's a disgrace that we play the way we do. Get me a manager who plays to our strengths as opposed to (supposedly) his own. Lerner and Faulkner (who is just as useless as McLeish) must take flak for making the most ridiculous managerial appointment in Premier League history. Not only did he manage Birmingham badly, he is also a terrible manager. I'm more than happy for RL to tighten the purse strings as he owns the club, however, I cannot accept that as well as cutting back everywhere we pay £5m for a turd manager and pay him £3m/year for turning us into a joke team that plays awful football.

How did Liverpool get rid of Hodgson? Allardyce at Newcastle? Just be interested to know as neither were in danger of anything but the fans despised the style of play and the results. Our style of play is awful and we have only won 4 games this season out of 16. Soon to be 4 out of 18 with straws to be clutched against Stoke.

Also McLeish would not have signed a 1 year deal. Shame.