markavfc40

collins makes more, he should be the one being pushed out Well whether you agree with it or not one is playing week in week out the other is a bit part player and this has been the case under both McLeish and Houllier.

We may have had this discussion before but its down to how high your standards are for Aston Villa and I set my bar pretty high as I know this great club can do far better than it has been over the last couple of seasons. Last season it was totally unacceptable that between November and the end of April we were in or with in spitting distance of the relegation zone. That after 22 games we had 22 points and were 18th, that after 31 games we had 34 points and were 16th, that it took until the 36th game of the season for us to be safe from relegation. Lets not kids ourselves that the two very good results under Gary Mac at the end of last season masked over what was an exceptionally poor season. Well it was by the standards I set for this great club. What others choose to do is of course up to them. I do therefore think that we are setting our standards low by setting the bar at how well we did last season. I am though of course also mindful of the fact that since last season we have lost Ash and Downing and have a transfer deficit of -20 mill.

2-2 fantastic goal from Bale. Great second half.

Game on 2-1.

6 wins in 22 games is not "OK". By all means im happy we won today as wins are as rare as rocking horse shite under McLeish. But cmon he has not be doing OK by any means. I agree. I guess our league position is ok but if this were last season we'd be in a lot more trouble. Thank God the teams down the bottom are doing a lot worse this season. If you want to compare to last season, which is obviously setting the bar low given how poor we were under Houllier, then had we have had 27 points this time last season we’d have been sitting 12th compared with 11th this season. It seems the biggest improvement on this time last season is not just the 5 extra points but the fact we have conceded 10 less goals and scored 2 more. Comparing to last season is not only a low benchmark though but of course doesn’t take account of the fact that we lost Downing and Ash and had a transfer budget over the summer of -20mill.

Last season after 22 games we had 22 points this season 27 points, last season we'd conceded 39 goals this season 29 goals, last season we'd scored 24 goal this season 26 goals. We therefore have 5 more points, have scored 2 more goals and conceded 10 goals less and our goals difference is better by 13 goals. The above isn't a massive improvement but its OK especially when you consider that we have a weaker squad. I'm sure we all hope that it will continue.

His predecessor of course had the luxury of Ash and Downing and to a much lesser extent Reo Coker and Carew. Of course he also had the luxury of spending 30 mill in the January transfer window where as McLeish had to work with a transfer deficit of - 20 mill. In all fairness it is setting the bar extremely low to compare McLeish to a manager that took 23 points in his first 22 games and overall only 33 points from his 28 games in charge. It is an improvement though and I am sure we all hope at the very minimum these small improvements can be built upon.

Not saying much but its better than his predecessor. By what, 1 point I think? I don't know why you keep on going on about McLeish's record being better when there's so little between them. Houllier's gone now, let it go. Its by 4 points. I'm just pointing out amongst all the doom and gloom that although its not saying much, given how crap Houllier was, that McLeish currently has the better record. I'll also go on about what the **** I like pal. Its called freedom of speech.

Exactly... because IMHO there's too many fans down at VP more interested in finding something to moan about than support the team. Our away support is amazing - they were singing their hearts out today even when we were losing. As a season ticket holder and someone who goes to 90% of away games this is spot on. The negativity at home from some so called supporters is there before a ball has been kicked and it takes next to **** all for the moaning and groaning to start. Away from home we, the fans, are superb and really get behind the lads and that support, combined with not getting on the lads back as happens at home, seems to be paying dividends away from home.

Not saying much but its better than his predecessor.

Fair play to him today. Rightly dropped after being dire but came on in second half and made two cracking early tackles which seemed to get the rest of the lads going. He arguably changed the game today as Kightly was a huge threat fist half and didn't get a sniff in the second half. Needed a kick up the arse but responded to it in the right way

Just back fom Moulineux. Can have no complaints with what McLeish did today. With Ireland out injured and Warnock poor the last few games he picked the right side. He was also correct in bringing Warnock on at half time. Would he have brought him had Gabby not been injured? we'll never know I guess but he could of course have gone with Bannan to replace Gabby. Seems to have been bang on the money in signing Keane so credit where it is due. His record over all still isn't very good but things could be worse. Only last season they were in fact at this stage as after 22 games we had 22 points and he also has a better record than Houllier who in his fist 22 games amassed 23 points. What now needs to happen is for us to follow this up with a win against QPR. A positive result from Arsenal before then would be a huge bonus.

Spot on. There is no way he will be ready to step up to the Premier League any time soon and certainly not this season. A few months out on loan at Championship level will do him the world of good.

It happens every day of the week in a way already. My dad died aged 60 nearly 10 years ago now. He had cancer. In the end it wasn't the cancer that killed him it was the morphine over dose his GP gave him. Had it not been for that I'd imagine he could have lived in pain for anything up to another month. My dad just wanted to die in the end. In fact as soon as he found out there was nothing that could be done he requested to come out of hospital where they could have treated him and he'd have lived for maybe another couple of months to come home and die which he did 5 days later. It was when he wanted to go and I don't see what that has to do with anyone else. I can also remember something similar to the above happening with my nan years ago and the family doctor giving her what he knew would be a lethal dose of morphine.

He can score goals I suppose just not vey often. In 258 senior club appearances he has scored 18 goals so a goal every 14 and half games. For Cameroon he has scored 3 goals in 54 games. He did indeed score goals in the Champions Legue for Lyon - 3 of them including one against Madrid. I'm not sure how you'd class him as a player. Think Houllier said he can play as a defensive midfielder or box to box. The biggest issue with him for me is that he is too easily bullied off the ball. You get stuck in to him and he goes missing. Karl Henry made him look a right clown when we played Wolves last season. For whatever reason I would doubt he'll kick a ball for us again or any other team in the Premiership. The best we can hope for is to recoup a couple of mill back of the 6 mill we reportedly forked out for him Makoun 6mill

They have made 10 changes to the side that played on Saturday against Spurs. They will have a totally different side out against us.

No surprise under these clowns that todays unemployment figures showed an increase of 118000. They are now at their highest since 1996. The Tories and high unemployment just go hand in hand don't they. Over the latest three month period once again the figures showed that the private sector is not picking up the slack of job losses in the public sector with 67000 jobs lost in the public sector and only 5000 created in the private sector. Just another in a long list of things Osborne has got completely wrong. And of course due to this Tory led Governments policies things are only going to get worse

By deciding that fishing 6th with the 6th highest wages in the league wasn't sustainable. By deciding to sell our best players and either not replacing them or replacing them with inferior quality. Oh and of course by making two shit managerial choices.

Quick heads up to anyone with the ESPN Classic channel. They have an Ali night on at the moment till the early hours including the Frazier fights, the Foreman and Sonny Liston fights.

He was slightly before my time given that he had his last fight when I was 7. Being a lover of boxing though I have always been mesmerised by the Heavyweight era Ali boxed in. Anyone of Foreman, Frazier, Norton had been around in another era they would have dominated. The fact that Ali was the cream of an unbelievable crop shows how good the guy was. Of course you then throw in the out of ring stuff, much of it controversial, and his illness and you can't fail to be intrigued by him.

I'd personally say no. She is 55 though.

I'd say that was the case. His name was sang alongside that of the manager for the best part of 4 years. The owner does have ultimate responsibility. He chooses the manager, or chooses the Chief Executive who chooses the manager. The owner decides how much we can spend on transfers, how much we can afford to spend on wages. He makes the decisions, or employs those responsible for making the decisions in terms of our commercial income etc. He was rightly highly praised for making some of the decisions mentioned above ( debatable as to whether he chose O'Neill ) that saw us finishing 6th for three seasons on the spin. He provided the money for transfers - 70 to 80 mill net, that took us from a club that narrowly avoided relegation to one that established itself as a top 6 club and challenged for top 4. He ensured we could during those three 6th place finishes have the 8th, 6th and 6th highest wages in the league. Now on the downside since 2009/10 he has over seen us selling three of our best players for the best part of 65 mill and either not replaced them or spent a fraction of the money and replaced them with inferior quality. He has made two very poor managerial choices and that combined with selling our best players and drastically cutting our wage bill, the 6th highest wage bill in the league ( for whatever reason Randy couldn't get the income high enough to sustain the 6th highest wage bill in the country ) has inevitably seen us slide quickly to being a club that was in the relegation mix for 5 months last season and seems to be heading in the same direction this season. I am happy to praise Randy for the years we were, compared with the last two seasons and where he found us, relatively successful. He spent a few bob and we had the 6th highest wage bill in the country so we did as well as expected. I also place much of the blame firmly at his door for the decisions he has made over the last 18 months or so that have seen us slide so dramatically.

We keep selling our better players we will keep heading down. Selling Milner, Ash and Downing over the last 18 months, alongside two extremely poor managerial choices has seen us slip from being an established top 6 Premiership club to one now seen as mid table fodder at best. Ireland is finally looking like the player we thought we may be getting back in August 2010. Unless a silly offer comes in which would be 10 mill + I wouldn't consider selling especially given its highly unlikely anything like that amount would be reinvested and as with Jimmy, Ash and Downing we'd either not replace him or replace him with an inferior player.

He won't make it in the Premier League. I'd be surprised if he kicks a ball for us or any other Premier League club again. I would however like to see him do well for Olympiacos which is why I'm a little concerned that he only has 5 starts and has finished one game for them. It would have been nice to get a couple of mill back on the 5 mill, or 6 mill according to the BBC Makoun 6mill , we spunked on him.

Anyone know what's up with him he has only started 5 games for Olympiacos and been brought off in 4 of them. Is he injured? can't see them wanting to buy him if this continues.