4Serious

I don't care how bad his debut was, there's a crispness to Ireland's touch and passing that makes me love the fact that we picked him up.

Sensible as always, I think. To throw my tuppence in, General, I would suggest it is better to suffer a couple of bad results now than to appoint a manager who would undo 4 years of terrific work under Randy and Martin O'Neill. However this is based on the idea that the board is working as hard as humanly possible to get a proven manager from european club football in, and is willing to bear the costs necessary to do so. My questions would be - has the board narrowed down the list of candidates to 3-5 interviewable candidates? Have the board interviewed anyone yet? Has the board been rejected in any approaches to managers? I suppose might not be able to answer those, but we as fans would love to know. Thanks for taking the time to respond, as always. Bad day for the club.

The sad thing is, I'd thought that MON had assembled a cast of characters man enough not to need a huge amount of external motivation. I thought that with the likes of Dunne and Petrov in the mix, pride would keep them playing well. But no, I guess all footballers need a manager to kick their backsides. And I really don't see anyone out there to do the job. I'm resigned to hating whoever we get in - it'll make it easier to offer my support when the announcement is made. Strange that two weeks in, we have absolutely no idea who it's gonna be.

1. We lost 6-0. SIX fuxking nil. 2. No it's not. It's an embarassment. We've just lost 6-0 to a newly promoted team. Who are shit. People are going to put the telly on to see the result and laugh. I'm going to go to work tomorrow and people will laugh at me. It's not the same as losing 1-0. It's one of the worst performances I've ever seen from Villa. I'm not even overreacting. I'm usually positive about Villa, probably too positive. There's literally nothing positive to take from this. Sorry Stevo, I must've turned it off around the 82nd, missed the last two goals. **** me, that's terrible. There isn't anything positive to take from losing 6-0 to a promoted team. There just isn't. But the sky isn't falling, not just yet. This is what the media expected when Martin bailed on us. I hope we don't prove them right.

If I remember, Jonathan Woodgate made his debut for Real Madrid, scored an OG and was sent off within 10 minutes. (Shaky memory, but think it's true.) As he walked off he said '**** me, what a debut!' I only hope Ireland is as good humoured.

A result like this makes me so angry that it's hard to calm down and be rational. But I'll try. A 4-0 trashing is much the same as a 1-0 unlucky defeat - you get no points. We were always going to drop a game or two against weak opposition this year, so here's one. What's important is how we rebound. Also, we always anticipated a tough game in a promoted team's first home match. They were well up for i. That said, Kev Mac got every important decision wrong today. Albrighton struggled massively with 3 games in a week, and Enrique had him in his pocket. At least Marc tried, I felt, unlike Downing who hid. Ireland shouldn't have been put straight in. Myself and many others felt so before the match, but it was clear as day once it started - we ceded the midfield to them. We needed more presence there. Carew was shocking again, and from the moment he skied the penalty the momentum changed - their tails were up, the crowd was lifted and we were in deep trouble. I have serious problems with Carew - his work rate and chance conversion rate are unacceptable for me. I know he leads the line well, but I'm almost past caring. I think Newcastle's physical style was perfect against us. They're used to defending crosses to a big man from down the championship. We had to control midfield and play through them, and we couldn't. Friedal and Dunne had bad games but if you're seriously questioning their places then I think that's knee jerk. Warnock, on the other hand, has been crap far too often over the last few months for my liking. Ratings? Give everyone 5s, with Carew a 4.

Goal Newcastle. Disgusting, disgusting, disgusting. No heart, no effort in the second half. All players were gash. **** this shit, I'm out for today.

Just continuing on from the second half of last season. Decent player, but overrated on here. Not brilliant in either attack or defence.

Having watched it, I'm not so sure it was an attempt at goal. An attempt at killing a barcodes fan, maybe.

We had to come out with intent. Instead, they're dominating us. How much leadership on the pitch did we lose when we sold Milner? Also, Newcastle's physical championship style is suited against us and our love of crossing. You have to play through these big but slow ****.

And nothing of value was lost I won't lie, I laughed.

The sooner Gabby is fit the better. Is Carew the most overrated striker we've ever had? Missed hatfuls of chances last week, but that's okay, because it's big john, isn't it? Doesn't get away with it today. Lazy striker who can't take his chances. Does it matter how much of a target man he is after those first two points? Clark is good enough, but having a mare. Get him off. Let's get Fonz on. Can't be any worse than this. Losing 3-0 to a promoted team having missed a pen.

I'll be delighted if we get anything out of this game. Forces beyond our control are favouring Newcastle massively here.

Clarke looking shaky out there, imo. We need to tighten up. We can score two but to concede another would be a disaster.

Chalk that goal down to the missed pen. God damn it Carew. As for the commentators... **** you all.

Carew... NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!! WTF big john effing cocentrate!!

Classy and honest apology, in my eyes. Club can only do so much about their fans before the fact, so it's nice to see them recognise a full and profuse apology was warranted. Takes the sting out of it a little bit for me. Probably won't mean as much to Weimann, though.

I thought the result was as fantastic as the general performance was poor. Really never expected to escape with a draw after their goal went in. Our defending was poor, our passing was shocking, we had passengers in midfield (Hogg, Downing) and our set pieces at both ends were dire. It's what you would expect with such a chopped and changed team. I thought our pressing was decent though - NRC was good without the ball (terrible with it though). However, Rapid were a shadow of the side we played last year. They were awful. I think they were affected by their striker effing off. Even their fans were nothing as loud as I remember them. A better team would have taken us to the cleaners. Still, football is all about the result. And our young lads brought a great one home, while picking up massive experience. So a great day, all things considered. And you can tell a lad like Bannan 'work hard and you'll get a place' all day, and it'll mean nothing - it's just words. For him to score his first senior competitive goal... it's priceless. He'll feel involved now, a real part of Aston Villa. As bad as they played, Lichaj and Hogg will feel the same. The fact that we managed to get them out there and survive a ropey showing is awesome. And in 6 months time, who knows, maybe one or two of these raw youngsters will be playing at Albrighton's level. If we beat Newcastle with Dunne, Petrov and Young fresh and ready to go, and then get through this tie at Villa Park that's really a super start to the season. Keep it up Kev Mac.

This second half has made horrible viewing. Seeing Weimann distraught like that really tops it off. If we can hold this score, it's a good result out of a horrible performance.

I actually think Lichaj improved from the first half, where he was horrible. That was a nice pass to NRC there. Bannan and Heskey were bright early but faded. Albrighton super throughout, but tiring. Downing far too quiet. Hogg has been horrible, invisible. Then again, I'm no scout. Well, that could have been it...

I'm not spouting state secrets here but... this is not good.

Ref to Guzan: Get another lighter thrown at you and you're off.

This is like an episode of Law and Order - a young american called Lichaj has been murdered. Must come off a the half. Please.

Good shot-stopper, that Guzan.

We are terrible at set-pieces at both ends of the field. Sort this out, KM.