Villarocker

I hope that Garde signs the players, however much they cost.

Wolf in sheep's clothing!

People were mulling over whether Charlie Austin would be the right man for us last summer. When we go down, attracting Austin to us when we go down would be like attracting say Lukaku, Payet, Bolasie etc whilst still in the Premier League. Look at Brighton at the clubs at the top end of the Championship. Brighton have the likes of Zamora and Hemed up front, Middlesboro have Stuani & Fabbrini, Martin & Bent, Hull have Hernandez & Akpom. Look at Burnley lying in 5th place and their top signing cost a club record - believed to be around £6m. When we go down, we will not be seeing marquee signings of the past like Bent was. We need to get used to the fact that attracting players of a certain quality was difficult in the PL, in the Championship it will be almost impossible. We will be shopping around players that are going to make a lot of fans cringe. Right now, in January, I would target Gray from Burnley. He has already scored 9 goals in 14 games for them this season. He scored 18 in 40+ for Brentford last season so he's already proven at that level. I would pay whatever it takes to bring him here in January in the hope that he can score straight away safe in the knowledge that, if he doesn't and we go down, we will have a proven goalscorer for that league who is already settled in at the club. I would seriously plan for buying the better players, in positions that we need to strengthen, from the Championship so that they are settled before the start of the season and have had some PL experience too. I think that would give us a stronger chance of coming back at the first attempt and, at coming back stronger.

Well said, JackBauer

I want him to share some interest too....off of the 100's of millions of dollars that he has!

I got a taxi home from work the other day and I asked the driver if he was looking forward to Christmas. He said that he was and that his whole family meet up - "just like you" - each year to drink and smoke and have a laugh etc. He said that although he is a Muslim, they still like to keep with British tradition in his family because they were born here. I said "I thought Muslims didn't drink" and he replied "The good ones don't". True story!

In reference to Markavfc40's post above: I know some are looking past Arsenal and our run from Newcastle on but I think Sunday is huge for us. A win against them could ignite our season and be the kick start That would be great, if we could win on Sunday. But, it would mean absolutely zilch if we lost in the next game against Newcastle which, for me, is the most important of the two games. Let's face it, would anyone be really surprised to see us beat Arsenal then cock it up by losing to Newcastle? This isn't me being negative. I am just being cautious with my approach to the Villa these days because you just always feel that as soon as you start to feel a little bit of a lift the buggers find some way of bringing you right back down to earth with a bang again.

Relegation won't be so bad as long as Lerner doesn't lumber us with loads of debt. If he can keep us debt free and financially stable we'll be OK because we'll be a big fish in a small pond and should be able to attain the resources good enough to come back up pretty sharpish. But, if he messes up our finances, we could be another Leeds. Within 8 years of our last promotion we won two cups. There's hope but we need an owner who cares. Right now that is debatable.

Brentford may not be an exciting prospect but I guarantee that when we play them and we're attacking their goal, you'll be excited and up for it. A game of footie is a game of footie no matter what level. At least we might experience winning again.

How much would it piss fans off if Richards returns in place of Okore instead of Lescott? Just asking out of interest, especially considering that Lescott scored and that may sway Garde to put him back in.

What do you think our final points total will be? As of now I think we will win 5 more games and draw 6 so that would give us a final total of 27 points.

Why are there so many big, carved stone heads scattered around the world? I watched Ancient Aliens earlier and didn't get an answer.

He did make one great kick upfield to Ayew who broke 1v1 off the back of it. But, his others were hit and miss.

GeordieVillan, I have said all along that I think the new signings will come good but, it will be too late to save us. My point about the summer was more that there were too many new faces and that they lacked the know-how of our football to hit the ground running, which is what we needed after last season and losing our better players in the summer. That's where I think the transfer committee screwed up.

Veretout looks better for two reasons: 1) He's been here longer. 2) He couldn't get any worse.

Some think Norwich and Bournemouth will go down with us this season. They are two of last season's promoted teams. The other - Watford - are (I think) the only team to sign more players than us in the summer. What does that tell you about our transfer dealings and management? Also, this will be a factor too. Newcastle, Norwich and Bournemouth haven't changed their managers yet. My point being that they still have that possible new manager bounce available to them. We're gone. It would seriously take a miracle to save our sorry asses. You know, I'm kind of glad that this will happen to Lerner. He deserves it for being such an inept owner. This guy is supposed to have a passion for historical and artistic things. He'd probably use Mr Sheen to polish The Mona Lisa if he owned it!

Benteke misses from a couple of yards, Sturridge clean through hits the corner flag, Newcastle score from an own goal and Moreno scores a brilliant goal that is incorrectly ruled off-side. If all that doesn't tell you we're meant to go down this season then nothing will! Don't we also have the worst GD now?

You know that the majority of those derbies - Walsall, Wolves, Forest, Coventry and Burton - well they will be our toughest games. Why? Because they will be up for it more than us. Blues will be different because of their locality and Milton Keynes, well, they're not even in the Midlands.

We need to realise that these players aren't good enough and that the transfer committee messed up big time.

People highlight his suicidal passes but, what about that clipped ball to the back post to Westwood right at the end? Should have been a great assist for the winner but Westwood royally cocked it up in a true lack of quality or composure.

Having watched the replay of their goal I thought he could have gone for it. There was an empty space develop right in front of him that he could have gone into to punch the ball clear.

We need hope. We played well in parts today and it made me feel more optimistic. But, despite his goal, Lescott should not be playing. If we can tighten that defence we will be much stronger and will have a much better chance of survival.

Looking like our best signing. I love his work ethic and he should be first name on the team sheet but, should have done better when played through by Veretout.

We won't need 40 points to stay up . 35 will probably be enough, so another 30 needed. 7 wins, 9 draws, 8 defeats. 8 wins, 6 draws, 10 defeats. 6 wins, 12 draws, 6 defeats. Could be done but, not by this current group of players.

We have a chance yes but, it's not been done before and we don't look like a team capable of miracles. I'm convinced that on the day we are officially relegated, last day of the season or earlier, there will be meltdown on this site with many people saying "I cannot believe it". When the likes of Southampton, Coventry and Wigan went down in the past I can guarantee that most of us and other supporters said things like "They had it coming" or "You can't keep flirting with relegation and expect it not to happen". That's what people are probably saying about us already.