Philippe Senderos

[brian green]

The satisfaction I take from Senderos signing and from Cole is that we are signing anybody at all.  It is a small improvement on the January window.   Bit like your car not starting on the morning you are going on holiday then on the fiftieth turn of the ignition key the engine fires and runs for two seconds.

[peter w]

In all this shiteness, and it is shite, it's easy to forget that other than our distrous end to the season we were comfortable mid-table. With Baker. Also, we were the only team in teh Premiership to take points from all of the top 4. With Baker. That he was poor, as was everyone, around the time of shambolic behind the scenes shouldn't mean he should be singled out as the scapegoat.

I don't think we'll go down next season but unless there is some investment - not even from a new owner - we'll struggle to improve from what we should have been until the nose dive post Chelsea - and that's a comfortable mid-table team.

[RussellC]

In all this shiteness, and it is shite, it's easy to forget that other than our distrous end to the season we were comfortable mid-table.

Not sure about this. Unless by "end to the season" you mean Christmas onwards?

[peter w]

No, from Chelsea onwards. We were up and down all season, but after Cheslea is was very much largely down.

[RussellC]

It wasn't great pre-Chelsea though. It certainly didn't feel that we were comfortable after losing at home to Palace on boxing Day. That said, there was a renewed sense of optimism after Chelsea. In fact, we were all gleely contemplating winning 3 home games on the trot for the first time in 604 years before we got given a footballing lesson by Stoke.

[peter w]

No, we were rubbish against Palace, and great at Arsenal. Slightly better at home to Swansea and played out a dull draw at Hull. Crap at home to Stoke and unlcuky at Chelsea. We were up, we were down like a lot of lower mid-table teams tend to be. After Chelsea, though, save for a distracted Hull, we were dire.

[dave.woodhall]

One day, many years in the future, wise men as yet unborn will crack one of the great mysteries of the universe, namely what happened ten minutes after kick-off against Stoke to turn a team who were playing well into the bag of shite that finished the season.

[RussellC]

One day, many years in the future, wise men as yet unborn will crack one of the great mysteries of the universe, namely what happened ten minutes after kick-off against Stoke to turn a team who were playing well into the bag of shite that finished the season.

It looked to be utter complacency to me. We'd just beaten Chelsea (and probably out-played them) and were 1-0 up at home to Stoke within 5 minutes. Certainly Bacuna's performance that day suggested that he wasn't expecting anything other than a routine win.

[Toronto Villa]

One day, many years in the future, wise men as yet unborn will crack one of the great mysteries of the universe, namely what happened ten minutes after kick-off against Stoke to turn a team who were playing well into the bag of shite that finished the season.

one the great mysteries of all time. How, a team high on life after beating Norwich convincingly, Chelsea dramatically, and going so well against Stoke capitulated not only in that game, but all the way until the end of the season. Not one Villa fan, even the most dour and depressed could ever have seen that coming. Even with stuff melting down behind the scenes with the coaches nobody could have predicted we'd fall from safety of mid table (we were 10th or 11th I think at the time) to the edges of relegation.

[peter w]

I had to go out not long after we'd gone 1 up and thought we'd stroll it. Looked good, confident, and set for a good finish to the season seeing us attack Newcastle and Southampton. Unbelievable how we crumbled.

[Jon Crofts]

One day, many years in the future, wise men as yet unborn will crack one of the great mysteries of the universe, namely what happened ten minutes after kick-off against Stoke to turn a team who were playing well into the bag of shite that finished the season.

Stoke is the common denominator, weird, it's where it all went tits up when 2-0 up & cruising in 2009.

[Toronto Villa]

One day, many years in the future, wise men as yet unborn will crack one of the great mysteries of the universe, namely what happened ten minutes after kick-off against Stoke to turn a team who were playing well into the bag of shite that finished the season.

Stoke is the common denominator, weird, it's where it all went tits up when 2-0 up & cruising in 2009.

Simply consider the monumental history altering impact of that last Stoke goal. All of the things that came of that. Moscow fallout, crushing decline from what appeared sure CL qualification, players leaving, manager walking out, near financial ruin, immense fan disillusionment. So many horrible things in large part down to "that goal"

[Matt Collins]

An alternative (admittedly pessimistic) way to look at last season is to say that when it comes to playing your 'peers' we were comfortably relegation fodder, staying up because of some excellent performances and a fair bit of luck against the big boys

Those results could be a sign of what we really can do. But I can't see us replicating those results again next year so we're going to have to find a way of not looking awful against the majority of sides in the league.

How many of our ten wins last year were genuinely comfortable to the extent that you think 'if we put in that performance against them next year I'd expect to win'?

Hull and Norwich at home perhaps? Any more?

Would love to be proved wrong but I think we are absolutely right on the shit. I'm not expecting us to make it five successful relegation scraps in a row. But if benteke can come back earlier than expected, Okore succeeds and some of our second season syndrome types recover from that rather than fading away, then I'll be wrong.

[supertom]

One day, many years in the future, wise men as yet unborn will crack one of the great mysteries of the universe, namely what happened ten minutes after kick-off against Stoke to turn a team who were playing well into the bag of shite that finished the season.

My answer involves Stephen Ireland visiting some sort of Witch Doctor clutching an envelope full of photos of our first team.

[RussellC]

Would love to be proved wrong but I think we are absolutely right on the shit. I'm not expecting us to make it five successful relegation scraps in a row. But if benteke can come back earlier than expected, Okore succeeds and some of our second season syndrome types recover from that rather than fading away, then I'll be wrong.

Would love us both to be wrong but I have to agree. Even looking at the teams that are coming up worries me. I fear that QPR and Leicester will spend there way above us, whilst Burnley will be able to produce good enough home-form to put us in trouble.