Why don't we just leave it here?

[Dr Hfuhruhurr]

I imagine a lot of the negative vibes that people put forward here could be caused by returning home from matches with nothing but defeat.

I dont care if we win lose or draw. The fact is Im bored of this season. What better way of making things more interesting than shaking the squad up a bit?

[Archie's penalty]

I imagine a lot of the negative vibes that people put forward here could be caused by returning home from matches with nothing but defeat.

I dont care if we win lose or draw. The fact is Im bored of this season. What better way of making things more interesting than shaking the squad up a bit?

That also makes sense. It's good to have new players but not at the cost of losing the soul of the club (yes I am SC )...

[Dr Hfuhruhurr]

I dont want 10 new players, but we do drudge out the same old players even if they are ineffective over a period of time. BrendyWendy mentions 3 new players in the transfer window, but he's playing with facts there - they arent three new players - yet, and may well never be. The last time we took such a stubborn refusal to improve the squad was when Quinn tried over and over to replace Shaka on the cheap. I dont even want to think about that season in goal again. Beginning to look like we're doing the same thing with our back four this year - or across the middle to a lesser effect.

I admit Mr Mad has a horrendous decision in whether to make the premiership jump, but when your squad problems are so glaring, it just becomes tiresome to watch player x and player y trundle out again to put in their usual lacklustre efforts.

Oh, Im having memories of Matt Robinson.

[sucatraps]

Good old Matt "Rooster" Robinson the biggest cock on the block! allegedly?

[Cookie]

I think after the next two games we will be in that relegation zone. but then we will pick up points and can see us staying around 15th for the rest of the season. We're not expecting anything in these next 2 games, so lets keep our spirits up and keep on cheering on the boys! URZ


I totally agree with Dirk Gently. If you believe enough then that will spur the players on. If you think its over, they will give up as well.

Wouldn't that all just change dramatically if we beat Man Utd?

[PEARCEY]

Why not ask the Premier League to let us end the season here and allow us to be relegated straight away. That'll make it a lot quicker and easier and save us all time.

After all, it's clear in the minds of many that we are absolutely certainties to be relegated, and as the whole club is such a "shambles" there's clearly no way we're going to get out of this mess. So why not just call it a day now? Especially as people are going to hit the negativity button so much more when we lose the next two matches - the odds are that we will, but we've known that all along, so what's changed? Just like it was always extremely likely that we'd lose at Villa.

FWIW yes there are obviously problems, and there is potential danger of relegation, but that's what the manager, coaches and everyone else at the club will be working to resolve. I'm personally happy to give them a few more weeks before I write everything off as being beyond redemption. Others. clearly, aren't, so I'd ask why still bother?

If nothing else, a feeling that we're doomed already and there's nothing else to play for will almost certainly turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Come on Dirk. We are football fans and are no different to supporters of other clubs(in fact I would say probably more tolerant). We are going to moan when things go wrong...isn't that what most fans do...apart from one or two saintly ones.
I dont recall many posters saying we are definitely down so we might as well give up. Thats simply not true.
A good proportion of us are extremely concerned but thats always the way with a relegation battle....you start paying very close attention to the results of teams around you in the hope they continually lose etc.
We are far from down at this stage but it does look like its going to the wire....so fingers, legs, buttocks crossed eh?
If the worst happens life moves on. You and I and a lot of others on here remember the team being relegated back to the old fourth division...now thats what I would call a shambles.

[KC Royal]

Whilst I understand that we were poor on Saturday the amount of negativity on here has both surprised and alarmed me. If it was one of the teams around us that had beaten us convincingly then I could understand. But this was Villa, a strong side who look a good bet for Europe. I didn't expect us to get a result, especially with all the defensive problems that we have at the moment.

[Get Carter]

I think I heard Coppell, Murty & Hahnemann, say our away form is not a worry - what??? We have also conceded 47 goals, which is as much as the whole of last season. Our defence has become a laughing stock on TV and in the press. It is not negativity, it is realism - the supporters want to keep our premiership status but Coppell looks like he has taken his eye off the ball and his foot off the gas. Federici should replace Hahnemann and we desperately need two quality defenders - a centre back and a right back. We also need two quality midfielders. Coppell's recent acquisitions have not made the team and do not look good enough. Why wont Coppell use the loan system like other managers? Coppell says he is happy with the squad even if he cannot sign anyone - I'm sorry but I see a team with no confidence, shipping goals in and no likelihood of a win in sight - we will probably concede another ten goals in our next two games.

[Ian Royal]

We've been spoilt with some very good football and signings by Coppell to get us here. Kitson, Doyle, Hunt, Sonko, Ivar all massive massive players and bargains.

It seems to me we've forgotten just how hard it can be to find the right players and for the right price. We've seen a lot of disappointments since we got promoted players wise.

Seol promise and some good times but ultimately not quite right
Bikey lots of promise but not quite breaking through, although argueably our central defence had been one of our stronger features (until this season)
Mate - crocked and a total failure, but unforseeable
Fae - dissapointment, small hope of coming good now, big name player (for us) who came in and just doesn't seem to fit in. It happens
Halford - bad move but recovery was excellent
Cisse - starting to show good signs IMO after a run in the team, I think was expected to act as Gunnar's understudy for the season, before taking a fuller role.

One thing I can's stand is people saying our team hasn't moved on since we got promoted. Please just think back. We had no players we knew would be any good in the premiership. As it turns out we've had a bucket load and most have got better and better. New signings haven't gone into the first team, but they have mostly improved the squad and given us better strength in depth.

Obviously we have some big holes. Two most notably being Sidwell and Little shaped. Fae was supposed to replace Sidwell. It didn't work, it happens in football. SC took a punt that we had enough cover from Wingers to cope with Little's injury. Then Seol wanted out, Oster got injured and Convey hasn't quite got it together like we'd hoped.

Had Hunt not had a bad patch and if we'd not got the Sidwell hole I don't think that would have been nearly as much of a problem. It's the fact we've only had half a midfield, one of whom was in poor form for a while that caused the main problems. It's been difficult to recover ever since.

I certainly think Coppell should be more proactive with his subs, and giving reserve players a chance when players are consistantly underperforming. No arguements there.

Generally though, I like the way the club works, and I'd rather see us relegated than compromise our attitude. I'd rather see us showing caution in the transfer market than risking spending £8M on a potential dudd. It happens enough when you are careful! Relegation is disappointing and I want us to stay up and do what we can to fight it. But I want us to remain the same club that won promotion and came 8th more.

It's looking like it could be close this season and we do need players, but even without them we have a reasonable chance of staying up. There are just so many relegation candidates. It was obvious some of the struggling teams were going to have good runs and that we would have bad, some were always going to haul us in.

The important thing is that we've got a fair chance of not being in the bad place after this really tough run of games and hopefully we can kick on after that.

[brendywendy]

I dont want 10 new players, but we do drudge out the same old players even if they are ineffective over a period of time. BrendyWendy mentions 3 new players in the transfer window, but he's playing with facts there - they arent three new players - yet, and may well never be. The last time we took such a stubborn refusal to improve the squad was when Quinn tried over and over to replace Shaka on the cheap. I dont even want to think about that season in goal again. Beginning to look like we're doing the same thing with our back four this year - or across the middle to a lesser effect.

I admit Mr Mad has a horrendous decision in whether to make the premiership jump, but when your squad problems are so glaring, it just becomes tiresome to watch player x and player y trundle out again to put in their usual lacklustre efforts.

Oh, Im having memories of Matt Robinson.

No.
people said the RTG brigade were saying in the summer dont worry, we will sign 3-4 players,
and they said we didnt
i said we did

& we did.
rosenior, fae and cisse, plus the bikey purchase.

im not talking about january where we have clearly signed 1 player

but with two weeks left im certain we will bring in another 1 or two
so now really isnt time to whinge about not getting anyone in yet.

[KC Royal]

We've been spoilt with some very good football and signings by Coppell to get us here. Kitson, Doyle, Hunt, Sonko, Ivar all massive massive players and bargains.

It seems to me we've forgotten just how hard it can be to find the right players and for the right price. We've seen a lot of disappointments since we got promoted players wise.

Seol promise and some good times but ultimately not quite right
Bikey lots of promise but not quite breaking through, although argueably our central defence had been one of our stronger features (until this season)
Mate - crocked and a total failure, but unforseeable
Fae - dissapointment, small hope of coming good now, big name player (for us) who came in and just doesn't seem to fit in. It happens
Halford - bad move but recovery was excellent
Cisse - starting to show good signs IMO after a run in the team, I think was expected to act as Gunnar's understudy for the season, before taking a fuller role.

One thing I can's stand is people saying our team hasn't moved on since we got promoted. Please just think back. We had no players we knew would be any good in the premiership. As it turns out we've had a bucket load and most have got better and better. New signings haven't gone into the first team, but they have mostly improved the squad and given us better strength in depth.

Obviously we have some big holes. Two most notably being Sidwell and Little shaped. Fae was supposed to replace Sidwell. It didn't work, it happens in football. SC took a punt that we had enough cover from Wingers to cope with Little's injury. Then Seol wanted out, Oster got injured and Convey hasn't quite got it together like we'd hoped.

Had Hunt not had a bad patch and if we'd not got the Sidwell hole I don't think that would have been nearly as much of a problem. It's the fact we've only had half a midfield, one of whom was in poor form for a while that caused the main problems. It's been difficult to recover ever since.

I certainly think Coppell should be more proactive with his subs, and giving reserve players a chance when players are consistantly underperforming. No arguements there.

Generally though, I like the way the club works, and I'd rather see us relegated than compromise our attitude. I'd rather see us showing caution in the transfer market than risking spending £8M on a potential dudd. It happens enough when you are careful! Relegation is disappointing and I want us to stay up and do what we can to fight it. But I want us to remain the same club that won promotion and came 8th more.

It's looking like it could be close this season and we do need players, but even without them we have a reasonable chance of staying up. There are just so many relegation candidates. It was obvious some of the struggling teams were going to have good runs and that we would have bad, some were always going to haul us in.

The important thing is that we've got a fair chance of not being in the bad place after this really tough run of games and hopefully we can kick on after that.

A lot of good points there. Don't forget also that for a large part of the first half of the season Cisse was either injured or suspended, so he hasn't been able to settle in as quickly as Coppell probably would have hoped. I get the impression that Coppell would have rotated him and Gunnarsson as Gunnarsson simply can't play two games in a week.

[Uke]

I think I heard Coppell, Murty & Hahnemann, say our away form is not a worry - what??? We have also conceded 47 goals, which is as much as the whole of last season. Our defence has become a laughing stock on TV and in the press. It is not negativity, it is realism - the supporters want to keep our premiership status but Coppell looks like he has taken his eye off the ball and his foot off the gas. Federici should replace Hahnemann and we desperately need two quality defenders - a centre back and a right back. We also need two quality midfielders. Coppell's recent acquisitions have not made the team and do not look good enough. Why wont Coppell use the loan system like other managers? Coppell says he is happy with the squad even if he cannot sign anyone - I'm sorry but I see a team with no confidence, shipping goals in and no likelihood of a win in sight - we will probably concede another ten goals in our next two games.

So your entire rant is based on something you did not hear from three separate people who you didn't hear say it?

[alidoe10]

We have also conceded 47 goals, which is as much as the whole of last season. .

My Dad who is the original optimistic reading fan pointed out to me that we've scored more than manu, liverpool & chelsea away from home. How about those RTGs