Tomaszk

Effort good. Need that every week. I dipped in and out today as I was working and it looked like the quality was severely lacking again. Can't be arsed with him throwing his hands in the air every time he falls over and expects a foul. Stop that please. He's the one holding us back right now. We'll be OK if we can get a starting striker in Jan, but I'm not sure it's going to happen bearing in mind the money we've spent on Wes. If we can get the effort for 90 mins every game, and participation instead of arm waving, he will hopefully be enough. Right now, I don't trust him. Next two games are monumental for us and him. We have no other options. If plays well I think we take 4 points minimum, badly it'll take something special from others to get any. The ball not sticking up there is going to cause us issues v Liverpool or Dagenham and Redbridge.

Fabinho won't play as he'll miss the city game next week if he gets booked. I think we'll see Henderson and Milner both in centre mid. Maybe just Henderson behind Ox and Wijnaldum. We can get at that midfield. It's industry not quality. If Grealish doesn't start we'll do well to still be in the game by 60 mins. If we're within a goal, the lift the crowd will get when he comes on will be enjoyable. Looking forward to this but definitely a game we could get really humbled. Can't give them free shots from 12-25 yards. This ain't Brighton, Salah and Mane will pass those shots into the corners all day long.

If he scores 10 playing like he has, he'll have had a poor season for me. If he scores 5, but plays every game like the first 20 mins at Norwich, he'll have been excellent and we'll have stayed up.

Good idea. One of Grealish or McGinn would have to be more disciplined and not fly forward quite as much.

Oh yeah, I do remember now. Bit of talk it was Ben Yedder wasn't it. A gutting one was Alassane Plea. Perfect for what we need. Can play up front or on the wing. Dunno what happened but he stayed at Monchengladbach and is playing really well this season. We won't be signing him any time soon.

Good grief. How do they do it? Didn't know Brentford had signed Halil Dervisoglu. Really good young forward. Wouldn't be surprised to see him sneak into the Turkey squad. Increases chances of Watkins or Benrahma leaving in January I'd say.

Where's that come from?

That was an entertaining 5 weeks or so. People claiming he was a "defensive" full back even though we've had to watch Championship wingers bulldoze past him with no issues for 18 months. Hopefully he was bad enough that he'll fall off the bench now. Makes no sense having him there. He'll do nothing but increase out chances of conceding while he's on the pitch. A waste of a spot in the 18.

Are people deliberately not understanding? It's strange. See the game last night? Trezeguet struggled big time. Just before he came off he gave Lansbury a sitter which he missed. If that went in, which it should have, and Trez had an assist it wouldn't magically mean he played well for the last 70 mins. This is Wes' problem for me. He's not doing anywhere near enough in general play. His best spell was easily the first 20 mins v Norwich. He won everything and put us in a great position to attack. If he didn't score that game and we won 1-0 or 2-0 that would still be his best performance for me. Better than Everton and Arsenal where he scored. Overall in-play contribution will lead to the team scoring more, especially the way we play now. I don't care who scores, I want Villa winning. Funnily enough, Wes playing better will also mean Wes scores more.

What an embarrassment. If we did that I'd be fuming at Smith. What's the point? Can you not at least send the kids out to attack?

It was so easy he got bored, and lost concentration. Didn't look a foul to me. Little bit of urgency would have been nice, but he had nothing to play with.

I've been saying start him v Liverpool but I thought he was poor tonight. Take ages to get the ball under control. Turning with it like the old keepers on PES used to. Anyway, hope it's not too bad because I'd rather be throwing him on than Kodj still.

Nope. That was the icing on a shitty Welsh cake.

No big complaints. I can nitpick anything!

No complaints. We weren't good but Wolves had 11 men behind the ball the whole game. That can be tricky to break down especially with our second string. McGinn had a horrible 10 mins after a bright 30 seconds. Never want to see Taylor in a villa shirt again. Drives me to distraction. His presence nukes anything down that side. I thought the Wolves goal looked a fair tackle on Luiz to be honest, he was too casual. I think anyway, there weren't many good replays. Shame to see Ghazi coast through that, he could have gained some confidence. Bit of effort and he could have got himself a hat-trick. Trez really looks a bust man. Maybe something will click if he gets a goal. Just horrible in possession. Effort good.

You joking? Hope you enjoyed that guy run 70 yards and him fall over. He's utter shit. Can you make your own mind up or do you have to get others to tell you what to think?

I'd be fuming if that was us. However it wouldn't be under Smith, even if we had the kids out we'd be having a go. This is embarrassing. Their big day out as well. 5,000 behind the goal and they have to sit and watch them have 20% of the ball. This is game over if McGinn comes on. He'll make or score a goal in about 3 minutes.

I never want to see Taylor play for us again. It's a weird black mark against Smith he keeps him on the bench, cost us points against Burnley, we'd have won that with Hause or almost anyone else ffs. What a useless waste of space.

Lots of passing the buck so far. ...goal! Fantastic pass by Lansbury. Just after Hourihane wasted great opening.

Don't feed trolls.

I love that he's here so much. Great contrast to the superstar John Terry in the coaching team. Said before I think Bruce was missing a guy like this. Proper training ground grease monkey.

Mate of mine worked for ITV for years when they did Champions League. Almost the whole crew used to fly to away games from London except my mate and Keane who used to fly from Manchester. Said Keane was always very pleasant. On the quiet side, and his guard would come up for up to an hour after he'd been mobbed in the airport. Keane would always come looking for him though if he was heading into the lounge so he could check him in as a guest. Couple of times he said he waited by the lounge but got bored waiting so went to find some food or something. Keane would, very much like the shark from jaws as mentioned above, appear suddenly behind him "Alright John. Keeping well?" as he was stood in the queue for KFC. Interesting character certainly. I think he took football stupidly seriously. Yes he probably wanted to win more than anyone else, but he'd also happily fight you and literally break your legs if he felt you'd wronged him. That's not cool. Everything would be different in terms of his upbringing but it'd be interesting to see how he would get on now when you couldn't pile into someone 5 times before getting a yellow. Not sure he'd make it into a side as dominant as his 90s Utd were.

I'd start Kalinic to be honest. Steer has looked pretty ropey in every appearance this season. Could do with showing clubs Kalinic is still alive if we're going to try and move him on again. Team prediction... Steer Elmo Konsa Chester Taylor Luiz Lansbury Hourihane Kodj El Ghazi Big Kei

Kit supplier has to be changed next season. If the contract is longer, I'm sure this season's performance gives them grounds to cancel it. They're missing out on thousands and thousands of pounds because people can't buy the kit or training tops. I've tried to July right after they came out and this month. FWIW the look of the Luke kits last season were absolutely fantastic for me, I'd happily go to the for design again. I would hope the club is in a strong position should we stay up because of the attendance figures. Thoughts on first team transfers in January welcome, are we in a position to spend? Countering that, what immediate actions are likely should we go down this season? I don't think anyone will be rushing to give us £22m for Wes. Is the scouting setup still Jesus and his two disciples for the most part?

Just brought a load of coffee up through my nose laughing at this. Wonderful.