rubberman

Very nice Mac n cheese here.

Agreed. Doesn't do himself any favours, does he.

Sorry - yeah wasn't thinking of LB but more as a back up / alternative to Green & Thor.

Isn't that McKirdy kid a left sided player? Would be good to see another of the youth step up and solve a problem area.

Whilst I agree that regressions to Bruce's defensive line-ups is still likely, my straw-clutch is that with Kodjia and Davis he now feels he can play more offensively. If they can stay healthy and on the pitch, I think (hope) that he will stick with it. That should bring us some decent results for the rest of the month and once momentum is there who knows. If O'hare and Doyle-Hayes keep pushing on in the cup games we'll have more options to bring in when injuries / suspensions do happen. Faint glimmers of hope for me.

I'll be happy (post Cup game) to see the same side, a bit more attacking intent at home and see if we can put away Forest as well. Not a Br-inner after one solid result, but lets wait and see if we have clicked / turned a corner. Bruce's reign so far would show that's unlikely, but at least there is a modicum of hope. (And it would be nice to win the cup game too please).

Liked the look of the last team and that got us nowhere, so not really expecting much more this time. As always - so much hope to be proved wrong.

So the cycle begins again. Hope > Frustration > Disappointment > Anger Not really how I like my weekends really.

Name Home Team Away Team Guess Barnsley 1 1 Villa Draw Bournemouth 1 1 Brighton Draw Palace 1 2 Southampton Southampton Huddersfield 1 1 Leicester Draw Liverpool 3 1 Burnley Liverpool Newcastle 1 1 Stoke Draw Watford 0 2 Man City Man City West Brom 1 1 West Ham Draw Spurs 3 1 Swansea Spurs Chelsea 2 0 Arsenal Chelsea Man Utd 3 0 Everton Man Utd rubberman

Yep - me too.

So...Bruce out in the morning and we still got a point. Everyone's happy then I think? Kind of.

Winning the possession!

Think it'll be a drab 0-0, so almost certainly a 5-4 thriller.

I really don't get the Wyness / Round dislike. They are obviously going to be more circumspect (as is Xia) than fans in getting rid of a manager. It's not to 'cover themselves' or 'save face' etc - they have far more invested in Villa doing well than fans do. But they have just backed the current manager (despite what Bruce says) with everything he wants and that only finished a week or so ago with Snodgrass. They are bound to want to give him a bit more time after that. That said, I imagine a loss tonight should and will see Bruce go because his position is increasingly untenable. But just because they haven't pulled the trigger straight after the first 'Bruce out' I don't think they should all be fired as well. Bruce was a reasonable appointment at the time that hasn't worked out - it's not like they appointed someone's nephew who'd never managed a football club (like whichever club that was). So unless our next managerial appointment is Moyes I don't think their position should be an issue. (sorry - probably one for the Wyness thread really)

U mad bro? His stock is low because he is no good outside Ajax. Wouldn't touch him with Gabby's.

Was also crap at Inter. No thanks.

Wasn't able to watch the game due to a more enjoyable afternoon of hefting bags of gravel around. But it looked like a decent starting side and strong, attacking bench so what went wrong?

I know - amazing. I really really hope this works out because that is a good side.

Johnstone De Laet/Bree Chester Terry Taylor Jedi Snod Hourihane Onomah Green Davis 2-0 please. Feel (as always after a break) confident we will nail this.

Exactly why we need to be targeting wins and playing attacking, front foot football. We can't afford four draws. And exactly why I worry we will do just enough for SB to keep his job, but not enough for where we need to be.

Thank the lord we'll have something concrete to discuss tomorrow rather than the endless circular meanderings of the last 2 weeks. International breaks are tedious.

I keep seeing this Elmo at rb. We've already got 3 specialist rb's (generously including Hutton) - why put him there? I could see it with a back three (hopefully not though), but it's a bit bonkers in a back 4, no?

Name Home Team Away Team Guess Villa 2 0 Brentford Villa Man City 2 2 Liverpool Draw Arsenal 2 0 Bournemouth Arsenal Brighton 0 1 West Brom West Brom Everton 1 1 Spurs Draw Leicester 1 2 Chelsea Chelsea Southampton 1 1 Watford Draw Stoke 0 2 Man Utd Man Utd Burnley 1 0 Palace Burnley Swansea 1 0 Newcastle Swansea West Ham 0 1 Huddersfield Huddersfield rubberman

I blame Steve Bruce.

7 wins as well. We'll look back on this international break and chuckle about how we were briefly worried about automatic promotion. (I may have been drinking tonight)