West Bromwich Albion v Aston Villa - Pre Match Thread

[oswald funkletrumpet]

Why? Genuinely why would you sooner stay up and play the game Pulis plays?

Because Aston Villa belong in the Premier League.
Let's face it we've hardly played like Barcelona these last 6 years have we? Stay in the PL till that muppet Lerner finally sells us then hopefully things improve again. Relegation would be utterly disastrous though.

Agree with that

Shit football (please see our last 5 seasons and stinking the league out) and PL survival comfortably and the riches that it brings

or

having our principles of wanting to see decent football but being in the championship, having £300 quid in tv money and playing at Rotherham

[Pat McMahon]

I don't think we are in any position to go on about the style of football teams play when we've played some of the worst stuff the divisions seen the last few years. A couple of years of stabilising under a Pulis type manager before moving onwards and upwards from him wouldn't have gone amiss in my opinion.

I does make me smile when I see some people on here peaching about how absolutely shite some other teams in our league are while we're down with the dead mean, having stunk the league our for the last 3 seasons or so. 

Bit late to the thread but I was going to reply in similar vein to aj2k77. If you appoint Pulis it doesn't mean you are married to him for 5 years (although our leaders would probably grant him a 5 year contract)  it means you have a very high chance of stopping the rot and settling into a mid table position for a couple of seasons. After that you move on, in terms of results and style, but from a secure base. Stoke and Palace don't seem any the worse off for his efforts in guaranteeing top flight football.

[Des Little]

If they get the first goal it's going to be very tough.  Their stock in trade is suffocating the life out of games (even when they're not winning), so we'd better have some ideas up our sleeve should we fall behind.

[saunders_heroes]

I don't think we are in any position to go on about the style of football teams play when we've played some of the worst stuff the divisions seen the last few years. A couple of years of stabilising under a Pulis type manager before moving onwards and upwards from him wouldn't have gone amiss in my opinion.

I does make me smile when I see some people on here peaching about how absolutely shite some other teams in our league are while we're down with the dead mean, having stunk the league our for the last 3 seasons or so. 

Bit late to the thread but I was going to reply in similar vein to aj2k77. If you appoint Pulis it doesn't mean you are married to him for 5 years (although our leaders would probably grant him a 5 year contract)  it means you have a very high chance of stopping the rot and settling into a mid table position for a couple of seasons. After that you move on, in terms of results and style, but from a secure base. Stoke and Palace don't seem any the worse off for his efforts in guaranteeing top flight football.

This in a nutshell.

[avfcdale]

i see Pulis has influenced things already, the twat was not happy that Craig Pawson was set to referee Saturday's game so he will now be officiating at West ham, we now get Robert Madley, how do Oilbiun get so much clout?

[The Edge]

we will fucking fuck the fucking fuckers

Your grounded. 

[PeterWithesShin]

we will fucking fuck the fucking fuckers

Your grounded. 

What about his grounded?

[PeterWithesShin]

Them 1 Us 3

[thick_mike]

i see Pulis has influenced things already, the twat was not happy that Craig Pawson was set to referee Saturday's game so he will now be officiating at West ham, we now get Robert Madley, how do Oilbiun get so much clout?

Bert Millichip pulling strings from the other side.

[avfcdale]

i see Pulis has influenced things already, the twat was not happy that Craig Pawson was set to referee Saturday's game so he will now be officiating at West ham, we now get Robert Madley, how do Oilbiun get so much clout?

Bert Millichip pulling strings from the other side.

must be i'm off to cofton tonight to carry out an exorcism on his grave

[LTA]

Irrelevant.  It's the here and now that matters.  Pulis has got Albion organised and very hard to beat, not weak and easy to play against like us.  Haven't they got something like 50 points in the 12 months he's been there? We haven't got close to that for 5 years.  It was folly to ignore him and West Broms gain is very much our loss sadly.  I would take Pulis over Garde any time.  Same with Pulis and Sherwood.  He's simply a far superior manager.

[tomd2103]

I don't think we are in any position to go on about the style of football teams play when we've played some of the worst stuff the divisions seen the last few years. A couple of years of stabilising under a Pulis type manager before moving onwards and upwards from him wouldn't have gone amiss in my opinion.

I does make me smile when I see some people on here peaching about how absolutely shite some other teams in our league are while we're down with the dead mean, having stunk the league our for the last 3 seasons or so. 

Bit late to the thread but I was going to reply in similar vein to aj2k77. If you appoint Pulis it doesn't mean you are married to him for 5 years (although our leaders would probably grant him a 5 year contract)  it means you have a very high chance of stopping the rot and settling into a mid table position for a couple of seasons. After that you move on, in terms of results and style, but from a secure base. Stoke and Palace don't seem any the worse off for his efforts in guaranteeing top flight football.

All in the past now, but totally agree. We have desperately needed to go through the couple of seasons you mention above with a manager like Pulis, but instead have lurched from disaster to disaster.  The football would have been dull (let's face it, our football has been genuinely awful at times over the past few years anyway), but someone like him wouldn't have stood for wasters like Agbonlahor and N'Zogbia and wouldn't have stood for things like us not being able to deliver a decent set piece.  It would have at least given us a foundation to build on.

[Jimbo]

I don't think we are in any position to go on about the style of football teams play when we've played some of the worst stuff the divisions seen the last few years. A couple of years of stabilising under a Pulis type manager before moving onwards and upwards from him wouldn't have gone amiss in my opinion.

I does make me smile when I see some people on here peaching about how absolutely shite some other teams in our league are while we're down with the dead mean, having stunk the league our for the last 3 seasons or so. 

Bit late to the thread but I was going to reply in similar vein to aj2k77. If you appoint Pulis it doesn't mean you are married to him for 5 years (although our leaders would probably grant him a 5 year contract)  it means you have a very high chance of stopping the rot and settling into a mid table position for a couple of seasons. After that you move on, in terms of results and style, but from a secure base. Stoke and Palace don't seem any the worse off for his efforts in guaranteeing top flight football.

Have to agree. In hindsight Pulis would have been preferable to Sherwood, only for a couple of years. Everywhere he's been has been left stable, with something solid to build on. We tend to turn our noses up at the likes of Pulis, but we really aren't too big or too good for him as things stand. It's too late now, we're heading for the drop, and I'm happy to back Garde in rebuilding us.

[The Edge]

I'd love to return to the O'Neill days. Top 6 finishes, packed Villa Park, fantastic players...
Aaah those were the days!

And still can't see how it was

1.) A shite return for the money thrown at it.
2.) Completely unsustainable.

Maybe one day you'll actually answer the question you were asked at least 5 times in a week before Christmas.

How much should Lerner have continued pouring in?

Not this again lol.  IMO it's not about "how much Lerner should have continued pouring in" O'Neill was fulfilling his obligation on the pitch. Top 6 three years running, coming very close to top 4. FA cup semi and robbed of a League Cup win by a star struck twat of a referee. The money and contract situation was down to the muppets who were at the helm. If they had kept pace with what MON was achieving on the pitch we would be sitting pretty now at the top end of the premier league.

[Stu]

As amfy said - fuck! The albion