We are not alone

[Billy Walker]

Wait a minute...didn't we beat the team that beat Liverpool last night?  We can't be that bad, surely?

[villasjf]

While we are talking about fouls what about when they send up a big horrible defender to impede the goalkeeper for free kicks and corners look at the treatment Brad got at Blackburn.   No, we are not alone ET Phone home!!!!!

Or the fact that the ball has to be fully over the line for it to be a goal... or that a player in an offside position when a team-mate shoots cannot then tap in the rebound when it comes back off the keeper.

there are three teams worse than us and they all begin with 'W'.

Would they be West Ham, Wolves and those Wankers from across the city?

Or have we been renamed Waston Willa?

[rutski]

The other area of the game where the rules no longer seem to apply is body checking.   This air brushing of the laws of the game started with allowing players to root themselves like an ossified starfish between an opponent and the ball to allow it to run for a goal kick.

We saw it in the Spurs game when a Spurs player lunged five feet or more from the line of the foot race for the ball to body check the attacking Villa player.   No whistle, no free kick.

All of this impromptu interpretation of the rules has come about because referees are allowed to enforce the rules as they see fit without regard to why the rules exist in the first place.   If a defender grapples with an opponent at a corner kick, award a penalty.   If an attacker body checks a goalkeeper or a defender at a corner kick give him a card.   It would end instantly the rugby scrums we are witnessing all the time.

i think you live in another era brian!

[myf]

...the worst Villa team since Mcneil and Turner.

Not sure I agree with this.  Some of the performances have been chronic but the team is largely that which has managed to finish 6th for the last few seasons (including several wins against the top 4) and reach a cup final.  There have been various reasons for the shite run but it all relates to a change in management and tactics, egos and a loss of confidence, rather than a lack of quality in the playing staff.

[junxs]

'Aston Villa is not a club on the same level as Liverpool, let's be objective and honest. It's a club that according to me has belonged between seventh and 12th place in the Premier League."

He actually said this? The board let him get away with it after all the antics at Anfield earlier in the season?

Does he even know we finished above them last season?!

The sooner this clown goes the better. I would honestly take Fat Sam for a few years over this fool.