David Kelly

Neither of them got much opportunity. By the time they came on we'd pretty much settled for what we had and were allowing them to push us back. Yedlin linked up with Anita on a couple of occasions, enough to suggest he could play that role. But Lazaar had barely any chance to show anything.

Really don't see any chance of him staying. I still think other clubs would look at him at that age and even if it's not premier league, I think he'd want to move back down south. I think you're overestimating Watmore comparing him to Long. He's just a ginger Forrest Gump. Last time I heard even their fans thought there wasn't enough pitch for him to run into.

Defoe, Kone and Kirchoff would fuck straight off if they left. What's left beyond that would clearly struggle as they wouldn't have a striker for a start.

I'd play Diame there if Shelvey wasn't playing. Clearly he's not the same sort of player but I think he'd do a good job driving on from midfield.

Personally I thought Diame played ok against Rotherham. On the ball he was very good, the problem in that game and in others, has been that he can't seem to get involved in the game enough in position. Perez knows how to play the position better and was getting involved, but he was (aside from about ten minutes in the first half when we scored the two goals) terrible on the ball. Which is what he's been like all season apart from the QPR game. It was getting worse and worse throughout the match too. I think it's a bit of a problem for Rafa because for me, Perez is the only number 10 we have, so if he wants us to play with one Perez needs to be a lot better than he has been so far. If he can't be then we need to look to play slightly differently. For me we should, at home at least, play with Mitro along with Gayle. Of course we're second top of the league and comfortably beating most teams without Diame or Perez playing well in the number 10 position, so how much of a problem it is, is debatable.

You wouldn't have been saying that had you seen the game. Perez was, as he has been all season, fucking awful. His touch seems to have completely left him. I lost count of the times he surrendered possession. Mitro should have came on in the second half but I'm guessing that things like his piss poor loss of the ball for the Villa goal are working against him now. I suspect Mitro will come in tomorrow along with a few of the others who were away on international duty (only Clark and Atsu who were away started on Saturday). I thought Shelvey was absolutely superb, he completely ran the show. Atsu's delivery is very inconsistent at the moment and something he needs to work on, but he absolutely terrorised their defence.

I wouldn't write Villa off for promotion at this stage. Every season in the championship you teams making a late charge up the table and it's not even that late at the minute. Bruce may well be the man to do that for them, as you say he knows how to get promotion, especially when Villa have the resources to spend significantly in January. He might not be an exciting or particularly long term proposition for them but if he gets them up and stabilises them in the premiership for a season, I think that Xia won't be afraid to get rid of him them and look for someone who might be able to move them on further. Similarly to Villa, Derby have also tried the route of a young up and coming guy when they appointed Clement last season. He was a disaster for them so it's no surprise to see them turn to someone who's qualities they know. Again he give them a chance of getting into the promotion mix this season. Unlike Bruce though, he's going there on the back to two failures (one of them with them in this division). In that respect I think they may have chosen the wrong man rather than the wrong type by looking to the old guard. I agree neither appointment is very inspiring but I think it's very difficult to make the brave decision to turn to a more unknown quantity when you are in the position of these two clubs where you are expected to at the very least be right in amongst the promotion contention. If they appoint someone like those you mention (I'm not convinced you should include Grayson mind) and they fail there will be hell on with their supporters. The route they have taken (certainly in Villa's case) gives them the safest chance of quick success. Teams like Bristol or Huddersfield who have never been in the premier league will be afforded much more leeway from their supporters which allows them to take the bigger risk which just might result in the bigger reward.

So was I. Finally I had a plan for NYE but they've fucked that right up now the inconsiderate cunts.

I saw about 40 minutes football over the two games and it was 40 minutes too much. Absolutely awful to watch and seeing Henderson wear the captains armband was embarrassing. On a more positive note, Hayden played for the U21's in their 5-0 win over Bosnia.

He's showed some good promise on occasion but it's going to be difficult for any player to develop when all they have is a couple of games then out for four months with an injury each time they play.

I love When Life Gives You Lemons so I'll have to check out their new one.

I love all of his Jay & Silent Bob films and really liked Zack & Miri. Red State was ok but these last two have been terrible. Apparently Clerks 3 is in the works. Hopefully it's better than these two turds.

I don't know how anyone can know whether he's good enough or not when he's fit. The fuckers never fit to see.

Really liking Bon Iver's new one.

Started watching Yoga Hosers last night but turned it off in disgust. I managed to get all the way through Tusk which was awful but this was miles worse. What the fuck has gone wrong with Kevin Smith? I know he was never what some people made him out to be but the complete lack of any sort of quality in his films now makes me wonder how any of them get made.

I still think we should be playing 2 up front especially at home. Especially as Diame is being pushed too far forward anyway. I definitely think there's a trust issue though. Whether it's relating to his discipline or just a lack of belief in him as a player, I'm not sure.

Apparently Pav's brother had never played in goal in his life before he did a bit training with Sparta the other week. I met a Czech kid in Spain last week who said he was coming over with a bunch of other lads for the game.

I don't really think a broken foot or whatever means he can't go out for a drink. Obviously he should be staying clear of trouble like and I'm not sure any professional athlete should be in a bar at three in the morning.

Rational questions? I go on holiday for a week and esembee has started asking rational questions? Whatever is the world coming to.

Aye fantastic knock from him.

60 for Duckett on debut. Looks a real prospect.

Aye, I'd be delighted if that was the case.

I'm 6ft mate. Was short as a bairn like which made keeping more difficult.

And he only scored for the U20's not the U21's. Woodman kept a clean sheet for the U21's.