This is the season...

[Ads]

I think we will stay up and anybody who thinks differently is a smelly poo pants.

[Chinchilla Bathhouse]

I've just read a "season so far - fans verdict" type thing on the Grauniad website. Speaking for us is someone called Jonathan Pritchard, who appears to be Sherwood's lover, or brother, or mother. He peddles all the favourite pundits' myths, including labelling all the foreign signings "not surprisingly useless". It's bad enough when hacks and ex-players come out with this lazy shite without one of our supposed supporters reinforcing it all in the media. Where do they find these people?

[Clampy]

We're in of those situations where we need to win games but at the same time can't afford to lose any either. I can understand Garde being cautious.

So can I.

I certainly get the caution of the last few games. However that is going to be increasingly less useful as we are going to start running out of games

I agree. Sooner or later he is going to have to bite the bullet and give the likes of Adama a game from the start. I know draw's are not enough at the moment, but you can see the players confidence creeping back which is a start.

[Flamingo Lane]

Over the course of the last two games we have made up two points on Sunderland, two points on West Brom and one point on Newcastle.  If this trend is maintained from here on in, by my mathematical calculations we will be ahead of Sunderland at the end of game 23, ahead of West Brom at the end of game 31 and ahead of Newcastle - wait for it - at the end of game 38.

[Ads]

We have lost one out of the last four and to the team that will come 2nd or 1st. We have actually started to play well, show increased fitness to press as a unit and to sow character and salvage a point from a goal down. Its small but purposeful steps.

We have some confidence, we have a striker in good fom and we have an opportunity to beat two sides to bring us within a result of Newcastle and Norwich, whom we play again in February and May. Its far from over.

[joe_c]

I've just read a "season so far - fans verdict" type thing on the Grauniad website. Speaking for us is someone called Jonathan Pritchard, who appears to be Sherwood's lover, or brother, or mother. He peddles all the favourite pundits' myths, including labelling all the foreign signings "not surprisingly useless". It's bad enough when hacks and ex-players come out with this lazy shite without one of our supposed supporters reinforcing it all in the media. Where do they find these people?

A truly awful piece of writing wasn't it? User generated content at its worst. I'm surprised they could make out the words through the tear stains when they came transcribing it for publication.

[Clampy]

We have lost one out of the last four and to the team that will come 2nd or 1st. We have actually started to play well, show increased fitness to press as a unit and to sow character and salvage a point from a goal down. Its small but purposeful steps.

We have some confidence, we have a striker in good fom and we have an opportunity to beat two sides to bring us within a result of Newcastle and Norwich, whom we play again in February and May. Its far from over.

It's not, no. There's a lot of points still to play for and the way this season's premier league has gone, anything can happen. If we can get a couple of wins soon, the clubs above us would start to feel a bit of pressure.

[dave.woodhall]

I've just read a "season so far - fans verdict" type thing on the Grauniad website. Speaking for us is someone called Jonathan Pritchard, who appears to be Sherwood's lover, or brother, or mother. He peddles all the favourite pundits' myths, including labelling all the foreign signings "not surprisingly useless". It's bad enough when hacks and ex-players come out with this lazy shite without one of our supposed supporters reinforcing it all in the media. Where do they find these people?

A truly awful piece of writing wasn't it? User generated content at its worst. I'm surprised they could make out the words through the tear stains when they came transcribing it for publication.

If I remember right, they've been using him for years; since before the days of mass blogs and social media, when everyone who did 'fan views' tended to be well-known, yet his name was a complete mystery.

[Chinchilla Bathhouse]

I've just read a "season so far - fans verdict" type thing on the Grauniad website. Speaking for us is someone called Jonathan Pritchard, who appears to be Sherwood's lover, or brother, or mother. He peddles all the favourite pundits' myths, including labelling all the foreign signings "not surprisingly useless". It's bad enough when hacks and ex-players come out with this lazy shite without one of our supposed supporters reinforcing it all in the media. Where do they find these people?

A truly awful piece of writing wasn't it? User generated content at its worst. I'm surprised they could make out the words through the tear stains when they came transcribing it for publication.

If I remember right, they've been using him for years; since before the days of mass blogs and social media, when everyone who did 'fan views' tended to be well-known, yet his name was a complete mystery.

Yes, I've seen the name before, and I don't think it's ever shared an opinion that I agreed with. This latest one is particularly pant-wetty and does us no favours whatsoever.

[Stu]

I've just read a "season so far - fans verdict" type thing on the Grauniad website. Speaking for us is someone called Jonathan Pritchard, who appears to be Sherwood's lover, or brother, or mother. He peddles all the favourite pundits' myths, including labelling all the foreign signings "not surprisingly useless". It's bad enough when hacks and ex-players come out with this lazy shite without one of our supposed supporters reinforcing it all in the media. Where do they find these people?

A truly awful piece of writing wasn't it? User generated content at its worst. I'm surprised they could make out the words through the tear stains when they came transcribing it for publication.

If I remember right, they've been using him for years; since before the days of mass blogs and social media, when everyone who did 'fan views' tended to be well-known, yet his name was a complete mystery.

Isn't he the guy who, when asked by the Graun which midfielder from Villa's past who would improve the team (this was about 4-5 years ago now), picked Thomas Hitzlsperger?

I mean, nothing against Tommy, but before Mortimer, Bremner, Platt, and so on? He's a maniac.

EDIT: I've had a look - it wasn't Pritchard, it was someone called Ian Malin: Which former player would you bring back to your club?

[Legion]

How many different ways are there to say pathetic? Our fate was sealed in the summer when we failed to replace Benteke and Delph. Signing an unknown, inexperienced and not surprisingly useless foreign legion, and some ageing statues to add to a bunch of perennial underperformers was always an utterly idiotic strategy and we now find ourselves barely among the best 35 teams in England. The blame lies 100% with the owner, who has systematically sapped every ounce of fun, pride and passion out of our wonderful football club (although our away following has remained superb). That the Holte End doesn’t sing constantly for his removal bemuses me weekly. The club cannot move forward while Lerner and his ridiculous cronies stay in situ. 1/10

Stars and flops Ayew is the only summer signing who will move to a bigger club. Hutton has tried hard. The Grealish media-fest would be embarrassing enough if he was any good, but his lack of pace and end product has been found out within 15 games. He will likely follow the “non-league by 25” road taken by some other recent Villa “wonderkids”.

Happy with the manager? 2/10 It’s hard to get excited about Garde: he seems to be about as dull as the team he inherited. He will inevitably be replaced in the summer by Allardyce/Pulis/Dyche/Hughton. I’m in a minority of one in thinking that we should have stuck with Sherwood until Christmas – nobody could have gelled the squad in the time he was given.

If he was a cartoon character, he’d be … He’s so faceless I could barely pick him out of a police lineup. Mr Benn?
Jonathan Pritchard, Observer reader

[Percy McCarthy]

the stone cold fact is that we need a minimum of 30 points to stay up as the average over the past ten seasons is 37.3

i just find it hard to understand how given our current form (the worst in all four divisions) that some think that we are going to achieve top 8 form

each to their own

I'm usually optimistic but what's worrying me almost as much as our position is the thought that seventeenth is going to be almost a record high points total this season I think. Some of the relegated teams this year will consider themselves very unlucky.

[UK Redsox]

I think we will stay up and anybody who thinks differently is a smelly poo pants.

it's quotes like that that make us miss your managerial press conferences

[brian green]

I think the choice of "fans" for comments is an old hobby horse of mine, namely the building of an audience through deliberate provocation. It is the laughable Mr Marmite Savage tagged himself with and which the media swallow. It does not matter that we spout inaccurate, lazy, biased bollocks, it winds the punters up.  I sat next to one of the best journalists and best informed football fans in the land on Boxing Day.  I will take his private observations a million times over a  Graun "fan", Savage or Shearer.

[oswald funkletrumpet]

the stone cold fact is that we need a minimum of 30 points to stay up as the average over the past ten seasons is 37.3

i just find it hard to understand how given our current form (the worst in all four divisions) that some think that we are going to achieve top 8 form

each to their own

I'm not saying we will, but it's still possible we can get out of it. It's all about believing. There's nothing wrong with having belief.

totally agree hope is all we have