rjenkins

Nothing much except some Twitter rumours. There's some speculation that Lerner is meeting Moyes as we speak, but I wouldn't count on that being accurate. I reckon we're another week at least away from hiring a new manager.

I know it's been tense and we've had no information from the club during an important time, but we're going to have to accept that not all of us are going to get the manager we ideally wanted. Even the favourite on this poll has less than 50% of the vote. The way Villa fans rushed to attack McClaren was an embarrasment. Maybe it's because I'm Welsh and don't have to go through the same media hype over your average team as some of you do, but if title-winning managers of clubs like Real Madrid and AC Milan in Capello's case can't guarantee success then why are we so suprised that McClaren couldn't? If Martinez wants the job, then he'll get my backing 100%. It would have been the same for whoever the club chose. My fear now is that whoever gets the job is a real 'Second Choice Steve'; the option the club turned to after the mob threw a wobbly in front of Adrian sodding Durham for Christ's sake.

no i dont, but he is the sort of person we might get - pretty unexpected and out of leftfield - as was houllier really. Just checked his win percentage as Croatia boss - 69%. They are currently 2nd in their qualifying group, one point behind Greece. However, apart from a short spell with Hajduk Split, he hasn't managed a club side. Seems like a bit of a risk, and will he really leave Croatia in the middle of a qualifying campaign?

Saw Slaven Bilic in the odds posted above. Anyone have an idea on how he's faring with Croatia at the moment? He seemed like an up and coming prospect a year or two ago.

this rijkaard is free in 3 days time from contract van gaal is free from contracts ancellotti is free from contracts deschamps is making noises about discontent 3 out of 4 are ready to go, they are top managers, winners at management level, internationally respected managers who have managed top european clubs. managers who will force people to take notice, force people like young and downing to consider things far more closely than before, attract better players to the club and so on and so on or hughes its like saying do you want a car for free, any car its yours for free but you must pay the running costs do you go for the rolls royce, it is awesome, pure quality, gets noticed, gets respect and people admire it but it costs alot to keep it going although it will get you there in style and you get the best car parking space or do you go for the ford focus deisel, nothing wrong with it and it will get you places although doesnt look good, performance is suspect and never gets above 80 miles per hour when it has a full load and when you park it you get a key scratch in it and someone parks their stupid honda jazz next to it and opens their door into the side panel of your car causing a small dent in it. As a man who works in car rental, you've almost convinced me.... As a man that doesn't work in car anything, you've confused me. Are you for or against a reliable but cheap alternative? If you're driving a taxi or a limo, you attract better clientele (players) in the Rolls. I want a name that has some excitement to it.... not the reliable ford focus. Haha I do apologise, what I meant was that your metaphor is ringing true to me

this rijkaard is free in 3 days time from contract van gaal is free from contracts ancellotti is free from contracts deschamps is making noises about discontent 3 out of 4 are ready to go, they are top managers, winners at management level, internationally respected managers who have managed top european clubs. managers who will force people to take notice, force people like young and downing to consider things far more closely than before, attract better players to the club and so on and so on or hughes its like saying do you want a car for free, any car its yours for free but you must pay the running costs do you go for the rolls royce, it is awesome, pure quality, gets noticed, gets respect and people admire it but it costs alot to keep it going although it will get you there in style and you get the best car parking space or do you go for the ford focus deisel, nothing wrong with it and it will get you places although doesnt look good, performance is suspect and never gets above 80 miles per hour when it has a full load and when you park it you get a key scratch in it and someone parks their stupid honda jazz next to it and opens their door into the side panel of your car causing a small dent in it. As a man who works in car rental, you've almost convinced me....

I really struggleed to select any of the possible choices in the poll. To me, there seems to be a number of reasonable options that would all do a reasonable job, beyond that I fear we'd be taking expensive risks. I'd love the idea of Ancelotti, but for some reason Ray Wilkins annoys the hell out of me and when you look at the clubs he has managed before, they will have been structured very differently to ours. I'm not sure he'd want the additional workload and responsibility over the areas of transfers etc, plus having a smaller staff to work with. I'm also not sure how realistic his salary demands would be. McClaren did well for a while at Middlesbrough and of course with FC Twente, plus he has a great coaching pedigree. As a non-Englishman obviously his record with the national team does not concern me as much as iit will many of you, although I agree he is equally liable to be a disaster as a success. Being Welsh, I remember Hughes' first job in management with our national team. He did very well, for a while, albeit with a strong Wales team which had Premiership players in every position. Let's not forget that Wales were one dope-taking Russian side away from appearing at a major finals. His record in the Premier League is good, although not groundbreaking I suppose. I think he would be a good appointment. Moyes seems like an excellent manager, although whether we're a much better proposition for him than Everton is debatable at this time. I just can't see us paying the compensation for him. Deschamps, Benitez, Rijkaard et al would excite the fans but they are all huge risks in my opinion. Martinez hasn't done enough for me to deserve being manager of AVFC. I do think he's one to watch for the future though. So, by process of elimation, unless there's someone I'm forgetting, I'd go for Hughes.

Assuming that we won't try and 'headhunt' from other clubs, that would leave us with a realistic shortlist of: Rafael Benitez Mark Hughes Martin Jol Steve McClaren I think of the four I'd take a chance with Hughes or McClaren before the rest. I think Benitez would require far too much money and I have never been overly impressed by Martin Jol.

Dear me, the statistics on aortic dissection make for frightening reading. I wish Gerard and his family all the best, and I agree with Billy_loes, I can't see him coming back if what he's suffering from this time is linked to what he had at Liverpool.

Well, that was dull. We didn't show a lot of creativity today, and whilst Stoke were well organised we got through them with through balls once or twice and I think we could have beaten them reasonably easily on another day. Still, it's another point on the board I suppose in difficult circumstances. Friedel - 6 - Had barely anything to do all afternoon and the little that was asked of him he coped with well. He had no chance for their goal. Walker - 7 - Good game today, outplaying Etherington and obviously had the assist for our goal. Good for him too, after a couple of ropey displays. Collins - 6 - A tough day for him, given Stoke's physicality. He did ok. Dunne - 6 - See my rating for Collins pretty much. L. Young - 6 - Some good moments and some poor moments. Defensively he was good but he doesn't offer a lot going forward when he plays left back. Downing - 6 - I thought he was better than Ashley today, although that isn't saying much. Reo-Coker - 6 - Typical Reo-Coker performance. I don't think Stoke's central midfield is particularly good but they are quite resilient and Reo did look up for that challenge. Petrov - 6 - Good first half I thought, although I didn't notice him after 60 minutes. I feel we could have brought Makoun on for him the second half because we were clearly on top and he would have offered a different threat. A. Young - 5 - Played today, did he? Someone should have told him that even if he moves to Man Utd he'll still have to play Stoke twice a season. Delivered one good corner and one good freekick but was mostly anonymous in open play and also had a few poor crosses. Heskey - 5 - Poor really. I think he tried hard but Stoke dealt with him well. Bent - 7 - Very good again I though, except for that one slip late on. The only player on our team who looked like scoring.

Got home from the match a little while ago now. Having spoken to my father who watched the match at home, my impression of how things went were more positive being at the ground than perhaps it seemed on television. I thought in the second half in particular we really dominated Newcastle, and anything other than a win for us would have been harsh. The only sour note is that I do feel bad for Bent and Makoun that a perfectly good goal was disallowed. I think it would have done Makoun in particular the world of good. Friedel - 7 - Good performance all-around. He made some important, if not particularly difficult saves today Walker - 4 - Worst game for Villa I thought. Not as good as usual going forward and struggled against Gutierrez and Lovenkrands. Still, he's only young and he was bound to have an off-day sooner or later Collins - 6 - I'm glad he got the goal, because he performed a damn sight better after he scored than beforehand. Considering that he is supposedly such good friends with Dunne, their communication was poor today and I still have reservations about his positioning and decision making Dunne - 7 - For me, the best player out of our defenders today. Solid, and coped with Ranger well. Showed a decent turn of pace on two instances too. L Young - 6 - Did a tidy job considering he was playing on his weaker side. I'm normally not a huge fan of his, but today I thought he played well. Downing - 6 - Drifted in and out of the game, although I always felt like he could create something, more so than Ashley today. Makoun - 7 - Can't believe he's getting some stick on here today. Bar a few stray passes in the first half he kept us ticking over nicely in midfield, and made some very good challenges in midfield too. Hardly a two-footer amongst them! Petrov - 8 - Captain's display today. Obviously up for it after getting his award for 100 caps. Although he tired towards the end, he seemed to keep his influence in the game throughout. A Young - 5 - Got better in the second half, but was playing too deep and didn't look like he was really putting a shift in for us today. Agbonlahor - 7 - Still some issues to address, but I thought Gabby played really well today. He isn't the most intelligent footballer, but he is dangerous and with more movement and support in the box, could have set up a goal or two for us today. Bent - 6 - Shame his goal was disallowed. Played as well as we can expect. I think we need a strike partner with him though. Drifts in and out of the game a la Downing.

I think Bent could do with working harder actually. Their defence really isn't all that great and if Bent shows a bit more urgency we can get Makoun to feed Young, Bent or Downing through the middle and get more chances to test Kingson. The service to Bent hasn't been good in the first half, but he hasn't looked particularly lively to me yet.

Having taken the lead twice, that was definitely a case of two points dropped due to two individual errors from Friedel. However, a few others haven't covered themselves in glory. Agbonlahor is wasted on the left, he just cannot play there. The same goes for Ashley Young in the middle. He doesn't create, and can't hold onto the ball. Petrov now shouldn't command a starting place in our side in my opinion. He's just too slow. Apart from that, I thought everyone else was ok at least. Makoun or Downing MOTM for me.

I never thought that Ireland's performances were as bad as Houllier and others made them out to be. I remember him playing against Chelsea and Bolton earlier in the season. He had great chances in both those games, and if he had scored just one of those I think he would be a regular starter in the first team by now. The idea of a Makoun, Bradley and Ireland midfield sounds great to me, with Bannan to understudy Ireland, Delph to understudy Makoun and Hogg to understudy Bradley.

GK: Friedel DR: Walker DC: Collins DC: Dunne DL: Clark CM: Reo-Coker CM: Petrov CM: Delph WR: Albrighton WL: Young CF: Bent (If Makoun's work permit arrives, then obviously switch him with Petrov, who I think has been a little off lately)

I would rather Suarez to be honest, but when he leaves Ajax it'll be for a club playing Champions League football. Bent is probably as good as we can get given our situation I think.

It was a close game tonight and we could just as easily have won or lost. The performance was much better than say at Liverpool or Man City, and for now I'm backing Houllier. I was very annoyed after we lost to Tottenham and thought if he was going to go, it should have been then. The problem with sacking him now is that we'll waste another transfer window, and I'm not convinced in the character of our squad to avoid relegation without reinforcements, particularly up front and in central midfield. If he loses against Birmingham then I may have to re-evaluate that position because we can't risk being cut adrift, but for now I think there's as much of a risk in sacking him as there is in keeping him.

In the first half, I thought we were very good, but we needed to score really. We never quite got going again in the second half, and Heskey getting sent off certainly didn't help matters. I'm not blaming Heskey for the loss however, because Dunne still could have made that stupid tackle if we had eleven men on the pitch. The goal itself was easily avoidable, but our organisation was poor. If you get a chance to watch it again, keep an eye on Petrov. First he's in the wall, then he's not, then he's slow to realise Bardsley is going to get the ball. By the time he even gets close to closing him down, Nigel has nearly overtaken him, and then the ball goes past two defenders on its way in. Our attempts to get one back after the Zenden red card were just pitiful though. Ashley Young was terrible today, and Downing was anonymous all second half. I felt sorry for Gabby on the left. Reo-Coker, Cuellar, Heskey and Clark were the only players for us who stood out to me, and one of those got sent off!

-----------------Friedel----------------- Cuellar---Collins----Dunne--Warnock Agbonlahor--NRC---Petrov--Downing ------------------Young----------------- -----------------Heskey-----------------

Houllier has to take some credit for the point today undoubtedly, but I still think the reason why we have got only one point instead of three today is because he picked a rubbish bench and didn't bring subs on early enough. We're only two points off 18th. Today was better, but we're still in trouble. Let's not get carried away.

Excellent mettle shown by all the lads today, shame we couldn't have won. I think the blame for that lies with Houllier, because we were knackered from the 65th minute onwards and we didn't bring on any fresh legs to counteract Chelsea's subs All the same though, well done lads

---------------------Friedel-------------------- Lichaj-----Cuellar---------Collins--Warnock ---------------Hogg---------NRC-------------- Albrighton---------Ireland------------Young ---------------------Gabby-------------------- I think this game is set-up for Ireland, despite his troubles. I think that he sees himself as this great player, and here's the perfect shop window so he can get his move. May even be worth picking Dunne as well, given that in the last few years we've scored a lot of goals from set pieces against Chelsea.

Lichaj played very well. Everyone else was poor, quite frankly. Downing and Agbonlahor in particular weren't working hard enough. Ironically, I think today would have been exactly the type of game for Stephen Ireland. You know, a midfielder with actual technical skills and passing ability. We'll be in the bottom three by new year.

I think those voices calling for Houllier to go are going to get much louder after today. This is awful, by anyone's standards.

I was so delighted after just getting a win yesterday that had I rated the players straight after the match I would have given everyone a 10. Having given myself some time to calm down though and watch the highlights of the game again to see if I missed anything the first time around this is my reaction: Friedel - 6 Didn't have an awful lot to do really, but after some of his performances this season I don't feel as confident about him as I used to. Lichaj - 6 Could ask for more on a first league start to be honest. Thomas did get the better of him occasionally though and I fear a better winger would have made him pay for those mistakes. I wouldn't feel too uncomfortable playing him ahead of Luke Young more often on today's showing. Cuellar - 7 Straight after the match yesterday I probably thought he had played better than he actually did. Made the odd slip and misjudged the header for the corner they scored from, but I do think he's our best centre-back going on form and I hope he gets a run in the side. He made some important challenges. Collins - 6 Better than he has been recently, although it was his poor marking that let Scharner in for their goal. For a big lad he isn't that good aerially from set pieces. If he could play like he did against Chelsea more often I'd be a lot happier about starting him. Warnock - 6 Got well beaten in the first half by Tchoyi, but was reasonably solid as usual in the second half and he did have a tough job on his hands with Fortune wanting to drift out wide too. Albrighton - 8 Not the finished article by any stretch of the imagination, but he was the source for both of our goals and you can't ask for much more than that Hogg - 7 Probably not quite as good as he was against Birtmingham and Liverpool, but he is impressing me just through his energy and tackling. Bannan - 6 Not the sort of game where he could really stamp his authority on midfield. Anonymous really, but he didn't do anything really wrong. He was the right player to be taken off for Reo-Coker. Downing - 8 Much better than in the last few weeks. Composed and dangerous, although I think he needs good players around him for us to get the best out of him. I'm not sure he likes being the main outlet for attacks in the way that Ashley Young does. Ashley Young - 8 Being captain suits his ego I think, and he played really very well yesterday. Has a good understanding with Heskey Heskey - 7 Not his best performance by any stretch of the imagination. There were a few wayward headers and dodgy touches, but he certainly put a shift in and scored a goal at the end of the day