The Fish

To be honest I expect all of them to be used sparingly, more so than Yedlin. Murphy is a Mitrovic substitute, Lazaar may be too attacking for away days or home games against top teams, Atsu is surely an attacking substitute when we want to stretch games?

Huddersfield are playing well, but man for man, we're the best side. The energy levels required for that style of play are incredible and I'm not sure if they'll be able to maintain it, especially when teams get wise to it and deliberately wear them out in the first half with possession across the defensive lines and ranging passes down the flanks. Another point on RDM, I don't think he's operated under this amount of pressure before. As has been said, the Chelsea team picked (and managed) itself, and the expectations at West Brom were go for promotion, but at Villa... Xia doesn't just want to win the league, he wants to do it in style and isn't afraid of going online to voice his displeasure, the fans expect the title and good football because they're Villa. They've made a couple of big signings and a couple of good signings, but marquee players don't win you the Championship, a team does and Aston Villa are not a team at the minute. Mental isn't it, they should have bought strength in depth throughout their squad, instead they've spunked a fortune on a couple of strikers and centre backs. £23m on two championship strikers, neither of whom are up and coming. In fact, only 2 of the players they've bought are under 26, so when the season is over, up or not, their squad's average age will be 27 and the majority aren't going to be good enough for the Premier League and so another overhaul will surely be required, will Xia really be happy putting his hand in his pocket to the tune of £50m again?

Think with the games coming so quickly Rafa will rotate the squad for QPR and that's why we didn't see the likes of Hayden, Mitrovic, Atsu, Clark, Lazaar.

Di Matteo doesn't strike me as the man to foster a sense of togetherness when one isn't already apparent, either. The longer the slow start lingers, the greater effort it's going to take to get going, no? Who're their next games? Brentford at home. The Bees have 3 wins and a draw, they've done ok against traditionally fancied sides too. Ipswich away. McCarthy's sides are usually well drilled but look softer this year. Mind you they're unbeaten at home. Newcastle at home. We're comfortably the best side in the division thus far, but we still set up to grind out a result and with their strike force, we may invite more pressure than we can handle? Barnsley away - Tykes going great guns at the moment, but haven't had the toughest start. Point is, I can't see them winning 4 on the bounce to rapidly climb the table and with each passing fixture the ascent becomes steeper.

This is the internet, I don't imagine we'll run out of abusive language any time soon, you scat-worshipping ferret-cocked cuckold.

2-1 to the cocksnot snorters

Read this and thought "Aye, but how many were from miles out and/or off target". Well, Whoscored says Villa had 8 shots on target, 6 of those came from inside the box They had 15 attempts from within the box!

Sounds like Xia is turning on the team;

That goal gave me a big ol' lob on

What's their first team these days? Mannone XXXX - Djilobodi - Kone - van Aanholt Januzaj - Kirchoff - XXXX -Khazri Defoe - XXXX Uh oh spaghettioh

Pearson's apparently got them organised at the back, but they're struggling to find the net at the other end. Seems to be a few Derby fans unhappy with Nigel Pearson's football and not entirely enamoured with his character off the pitch as well. Looks like Hughes will miss the game thanks to getting a ball to the face earlier, whi8ch is fortunate for us because he's definitely a player who can control the play in this league. I was expecting a really tough game against one of this divisions top teams, but their nerves are giving me confidence. I'm not sure we'll score, but I'm now pretty confident that they won't. Be interesting to see who Rafa picks; does he go for consistency and stick with Dummett at Left Back? Or does he start the game with defensive debuts for Lazaar and Yedlin? Up front will he go for the man in form and stick with Gayle, or does he start with Mitrovic? 1-0 for Newcastle I reckon.

Typical bloke's comment

Just on a personal level, that was way too late for me. All through my schooling I had been capable enough to get good passing grades so the teachers ignored me. By the time I sat my GCSEs, (let alone my A-Levels) my work ethic was shot, I had cruised through my schooling and when actual graft became necessary I was completely unprepared. Had I gone to a Grammar school I don't think I would have been allowed to cruise, even if I had been getting the grades. I needed a huge wake-up call 2yrs after leaving high school to get me back on a track I should never have been off.

Isn't everything though? I don't think the absence of Grammar schools would have lead to national familial harmony?

I understand that previous iterations haven't benefited each student, but surely that doesn't mean that future versions are necessarily doomed to fail. I know I (and others like me) suffered because the teacher had so many kids with individual learning requirements that because I was passing I was largely ignored. I 100% would have benefited from being in a Grammar school where the class would have been made up of kids who were at a similar level at a similar age. Just like the class I was in at Seaton Sluice Middle School would have benefited by being made up of kids of a similar level at a similar age. Wouldn't an annual test mean that kids could migrate to Grammar schools if they... I'm struggling to find a term to describe slotting into that Grammar stream without it being insulting, condescending or flat out inaccurate so I apologise in advance. Also, that's true of the earlier version of Grammar schools, but it needn't be true in the future.

They may not have benefited, but would they have suffered? Doesn't sound like not getting into a Grammar school would have made a whole heap of difference to that part of their lives?

I don't understand why failing to get into Grammar schools because of your academic ability at that time stops you developing later and succeeding anyway, as both your examples suggest happened?

Getting in wasn't the problem for me, it was what happened once I got there that started all this trouble.

Higher education should be free for whomever is capable of getting in, but getting in should be much, much harder. Like you say, there are worthless degrees out there and families spending tens of thousands on helping their kids get them. There should be a difference between a degree from a redbrick University and whatever else is out there, and getting into University should be fucking difficult.

Went on a couple of their boards to see what they were expecting from the game, one was 10 pages of formations and the other seemed more like a general chat thread

That's the crux of it for me. I don't care that it's a poorly written female character, I care that it's a poorly written character. Sure, some of the points were a little heavy handed, but this is Hollywood; Aliens are always analogous of global warming, or whatever. But to be honest, I chuckled at the misplaced chivalry from Finn and Rey's response, and I didn't find it had rendered me dead from the waist down.

Can't it be both Scott, can't it be both?

Just watched this video Parky... you can't be serious with this shit? He whines that the girl is outrunning the men "because she's all powerful". Well, a couple of things, she's not outrunning the men and even if she were, that doesn't make her all powerful, just faster than some men. I'm guessing your wife would be faster than Forrest Whittaker. He also froths about some men being lead away in handcuffs "because no female pilots would ever be captured, would they?". Or it could be that the army they're fighting for is as misogynistic as this youtuber and can't allow many women behind the controls of anything as big and dirty as a spaceship. This kid is obviously baffled by women. He's probably enraged that strong female characters are now infiltrating the fantasy worlds where he could imagine having dominion over women. In the real world they bamboozle and scare him, in these fantasies they've been meek, biddable arm candy that his level 42 barbarian would toss over his shoulder as he's rescuing her from a dragon or whatever. This Jeff Albertson is beneath you Parkster.