acrossthepond

Of course I only got home in time to watch the dire second half. Penalty was a dive for me like, thanks Dean. If they didn't get that we could've killed off their early attacks in the second half and controlled the game as we apparently did in the first. The Mbiwa sub was an utterly baffling one. Inexplicable is the right word. He looked completely lost in central midfield (as well he fucking should, as he's a centre-back!) and that was no way to give a class player his debut. Disgraceful fouling from Villa especially the one on Jonas which went unpunished (actually it was punished - Jonas got a yellow) but you have to give them credit for realising the hole they're in and picking it up. I wonder if that would ever have happened to us before the new signings came in. Certainly we saw no sign of it happening against Reading. Massively relieved to pick up the 3 points but there were definitely shaky moments tonight - too many for comfort.

Brilliant signing, brilliant week. It looks like the penny has finally dropped for Fat Mike. This is just what we needed to lift spirits inside and outside the stadium. Even if some of these players don't fully live up to expectations, we're made a positive move at the time when it was needed most and it will be sure to improve morale.

He was linked to us and Liverpool last summer iirc. He was from what, Heerenveen, or maybe Utrecht? Went to Portugal instead. Can't say I've ever seen him play but this isn't the first time we've heard the name (it's a pretty memorable name, too.)

Gosling, forgot that clown was still on our books.

Rozenhal, Nacho Gonzalez, Smith, Pattison for some other white plums from recent years, besides the aforementioned Xisco and Luque.

Thank fuck it isn't true. Rubbish player. Likes a joke though, nowt wrong with having a personality.

I agree with that, actually. (Not sure if you're serious though....) An FA charge and fine for Swansea and a lengthy ban for Hazard would do me. Cretinous action by Hazard who absolutely should know better, but I think it's pretty clear this ballboy had a premeditated timewasting plan that deserves punishment. Sack the kid too, owner's son or not, he can do one.

Aye, fuck off you dodgy Argie chancers. Letting our captain go in the middle of a relegation scrap would've been utter madness. Even Fat Mike isn't that daft.

Bradford on the march to Wembley. Very happy for them, not least because they're embarrassing such a drab, poor imitation of a football club as Aston Villa.

I can't believe that anyone would be negative over this signing. We have been terminally weak at full-back for fucking years. Now we're signing players to cover/provide competition for the two class ones we currently have and that's meant to be a bad thing?

Pleased with this signing too although I hope he's a squad player (would be in a well-run club) rather than the Ba replacement.

Get in. Great signing, very pleased. Hopefully this is meant to complement Coloccini although not getting my hopes up on that score.

Just pay the extra money ffs. A quarter-million isn't even a week of our squad's salary, absolute drop in the bucket. If he's worth paying 750k for, he's worth paying a mi for. We need striker cover quite desperately.

Still time for QPR to re-route his jet. Speaking of QPR, it'd be poetic justice if we were to hijack their bid for M'Vila. He's available on the cheap and is a class player, would slot in very nicely with Cabaye.

About the booing, I don't agree and have never. When you've shelled out your hard-won cash, possibly for several seasons in advance, to watch a gutless side poorly mismanaged by someone who then turns round and has the cheek to blame you for the team's (and his own) failings, you have every right to let your dissatisfaction be known. There's no reason why we should be getting beat off the worst team in the league at SJP. That was the very definition of a home banker. It was a must-win game and we lost it - so where do we go from here? Pardew plainly does not have a plan for getting us out of this mess (and I can't blame him that much since his hands are obviously tied - you can't play the players you don't have.) That would be OK if he weren't actually costing us points with his awful tactics. I don't think he'll actually be sacked, but I think his time is up. It was a shocking decision to award him such a ludicrous contract (just another shocking decision in a series of shocking decisions by Ashley and Llambias - another one was signing no-one in the summer) and things are going from bad to worse. I'm not saying that replacing him will suddenly guarantee success, and I know our stock is not exactly high at the moment and that we'll struggle to attract good managerial talent, but I think Pardew's gone as far as he can go.

We might need his promotion experience before long tbh.

He must go. I've not said a word against him this season but it's down to Pardew that we've lost this game and there are several others where his negative tactics have cost us. We controlled the game in the first half. Where was that in the second half? Why take off two of our most influential players and put on two cloggers? Cabaye, fair play, he's coming back from injury, but Marveaux for Perch made no sense unless it was Pardew's plan to see the game out 1-0, which should never be his fucking plan considering how many times we've dropped points from that position. Our back four is not solid enough to rely on 1-0 wins. We should've pressured them for a second goal and kept the initiative that way. Instead he chucked it away with poor subs and we got our just desserts. No way back for him now. Pardew must go.

Oh do fuck off.

What the fuck is this donkey doing?

Brilliant! Speechless. Pick that one out Federici!

Some shocking reffing so far.

What a save! You can see the difference in our side now that Cabaye is back though. We have somebody who has a plan when he gets the ball.

Class player by all accounts and one we've been linked with before. Obviously not holding my breath on this one like but he's just what we need.

In the interest of being pedantic I think we signed Kuqi after the window had already shut. Back on topic, N'Gog is fucking shit and so is Aliadiere. If those are our plan B after Remy failed, we're done for - but as already said, I doubt we're actually interested in either one.

Ba situation all over again. He signs for them, they go down, he buggers off on a free and comes to us in the summer. We're essentially loaning him to QPR for a few months. [/wishfulthinking]