Villa Signings and General Rumours Thread

Neil3030

Southgate must have given himself a tumour not slating that ref in the interview...

Villain

Peno's like that are given on a regular basis he threw himself at the ball with his arm out blocked the ball going towards goal

invincibleirish

What a joke, cant beat Boro at home FFS!

Helix

Villain wrote: »

Peno's like that are given on a regular basis he threw himself at the ball with his arm out blocked the ball going towards goal

not at all

he turned his back to block the ball, no way was it a pen

christ if that was given against us thered be uproar

absolutely never a peno

Helix

Villain wrote: »

Doesn't have to be

it has to be hand to ball and deliberate

not facing away from the ball in mid air and the ball hitting off your elbow

Villain

Well we can agree to disagree, he didn't just turn his back though, he through himself and at the ball and left his arm sticking out, if you raise your arm your at risk of giving a penalty away.

ciaran76

Raekwon wrote: »

Agreed. IMO we have very similar *defensive and attack players as Everton but our midfield is weak compared to theirs.

Everton Midfield:

Thomas Gravesen
Anderson De Silva
Tim Cahill
Phil Neville
Steven Pienaar
Leon Osman
Lee Carsley
Manuel Fernandes
Dan Gosling
Bjarni Vidarsson
Mikel Arteta
Andy van der Meyde

Villa Midfield:

Moustapha Salifou
Stiliyan Petrov
Nigel Reo-Coker
Wayne Routledge
Patrik Berger
Zoltan Stieber
Craig Gardner
Isaiah Osbourne
Shaun Maloney
Gareth Barry

*Before Curtis Davis got injured.

Gosling is out on loan
Anderson De Silva sold in Jan.
Andy van der Meyde is never going to play 1st team football again.
Bjarni Vidarsson is a reserve player not sure if he will make the step up to be honest.

But I see your point I think Evertons midfield is slightly better but not by much.

Raekwon

ciaran76 wrote: »

Gosling is out on loan
Anderson De Silva sold in Jan.
Andy van der Meyde is never going to play 1st team football again.
Bjarni Vidarsson is a reserve player not sure if he will make the step up to be honest.

But I see your point I think Evertons midfield is slightly better but not by much.

Moustapha Salifou has played 5 minutes first team football all season.
Wayne Routledge hasn't even made the subs bench yet.
Patrik Berger is injury prone and has only made a handful sub appearances.
Zoltan Stieber came back from a loan move but has never played for Villa's first team.
Craig Gardner is technically a midfielder but is being groomed to play at rightback due to the lack of a natural rightback at the club.
Isaiah Osbourne is a young rookie with very limited first team experience.

So that leaves Barry, Reo-Coker, Petrov & Maloney. None of these players has been in outstanding form this season and I think it is fair to say that Barry is the only one who's play has been anyway consistent and even then he hasn't been at his best.

Then you look at Everton's midfield of Cahill/Fernandes, Arteta/Pienaar, Carsely/Gravensen, Neville/Osman and you can see how much strength in dept they have and how solid there midfield looks. Villa would really need to strengthen in this department (along with a few others) in the summer if we want to compete with the top 5 next season.

ciaran76

Gravesen (injured) has played 1 game and Fernandes (only signed in Jan) has played 3 I think.

But I don't disagree with you I know what you are saying. I think the hard part with midfielders is that the need to be playing week in week out so it makes difficult decisions for the rest of the team.

At Everton they sometime play 5 midfield with Cahill as the 2nd striker / attacking midfielder which means you only play with 1 striker and that will then leave a striker pissed off as they too need to be playing.


Its a very fine line and clubs need to have players who can acdcept that they wont be playing every game and not get in a strop about it but thats bringing the topic off on a tangent.

JPA

Esse85 wrote: »

The sooner this season ends the better.

How bizarre.

Helix

Villain wrote: »

Well we can agree to disagree, he didn't just turn his back though, he through himself and at the ball and left his arm sticking out, if you raise your arm your at risk of giving a penalty away.

his arm moved as part of the momentum of his body moving

it wasnt hand to ball, so in my eyes no pen

Villain

It doesn't have to hand to ball though in that way though, if you throw your body to block a ball and put your arms out you are therefore throwing your arm at the ball.

Helix

he didnt put his arms out, it was trailing behind him

he didnt move his arm in any way towards the flight of the ball

Villain

Helix wrote: »

he didnt put his arms out, it was trailing behind him

he didnt move his arm in any way towards the flight of the ball

You see thats the way you look at it, most refs would say he didn't stand to block it with his hands by his side, he moved his body towards the ball and he made his body bigger by extending his arm as he moved therefore its a penalty.

Its a debatable rule but I know many Ref organisations have discussed it many times and simply put if you move to the ball to block it and your arms are extended and the ball hits the arm then you are using your arm to block the ball.

I can see what your saying but thats not the way most refs see it. Can you see what I mean?

invincibleirish

Portsmouth away Predictions? seeing as as they are slight favourites im gonna go and predict a Villa win.

why? its clear Villa are playing the underdog away well, we have had some tremendous away results allied with poor results like Fulham, Boro last Wednesday and Pompey before Xmas at home. Portsmouth are similar ot Villa good away mixed at home, hopefully more of the same tomorrow!


http://www.football365.com/story/0,17033,8690_3299596,00.html

Helix

score draw

Mr Alan

Villian, it was never a peno, you can try justify it till the cows come home and i understand why you are trying to justify it. But it wasnt a peno

Savman

I can't definitely say it was a peno, but can't definitely say it wasn't either. It's the type of case you'll see given and waived away. Whatever about the decision by the Ref, the decision by the defender to jump in front of the ball inside the penalty box while looking the other way defies any logic tbh. Moment of silliness cost Boro the win which I could see them holding out for.

Anyway, Pompey, defo has score draw written all over it again, but they do have a very decent team. Then again, O'Neill always seems to pull a rabbit out of the hat when its least expected, so an away win is not to difficult to envisage.

Still too close to call tho.

invincibleirish

saw it on Football Focus, it wasnt a penalty, at least it wasnt intentional hanball on the players part, it him on the elbow!

Raekwon

It was never a peno, put it this way if that was given against Villa then I would have been very pissed off.

As for today I think it will be a draw, maybe even a 2-2. The one thing that worries me is that Milan Baros is playing up front for Pompey and ex-Villa strikers always seem to well against us (Crouch, Vassell, etc).

Defoe just put Pompey 1-0 up!

Helix

and blackburn are winning

brilliant

we'll be bleedin bottom half if this keeps up

artanevilla

We've conceded a goal in every game since the 4-0 win over Blackburn, that's simply not good enough.

invincibleirish

Flipping Defoe, would have loved to have put money on 1st scorer odds there.
cant get game on net, how Villa playing? abysmal?

Helix

hardly surprising with a team with no right back and zat knight tho lol

invincibleirish

what'll happen with Zat Knight is that either a) after a full pre season with MON and the boys he will turn into the new Rio Ferdinand and we'll slap ourselves forever doubting MON, or b) return to relative obscurity as the Laursen-Davies pretty boy partnership conquers all. if Davies isnt back til October MON better be sizing up another Centre Back.

Helix

well theres no doubt about it, we DO need another center back anywy

Helix

luke moore was just sent off for west brom

Helix

and reo coker scored a 25 yard og

for **** sake

Raekwon

Yeah I just saw that Luke Moore got a straight red for violent conduct, he seems to have lost the plot alittle over the last while.

Our defence is very weak. I know I have slated Zat Knight numerous times on this thread but the guy is just not good enough IMO. He had a howler of a clearance against Boro that handed them a goal and I just don't see that he will ever improve.


2-0 Pompey Reo-Coker OG

Helix

we're in massive trouble lads

gardner injured prior to the game, mellberg sent off

we have no right back, no cover right back, no temporary make shift right back, and no cover temporary make shift right back now

do we even have enough players to fill the bench now?

i ****ing KNEW this was gonna happen after that mess of a jan window

Neil3030

First Ireland, now this.

At least West Ham won, which keeps Blackburn off our heels. And with our remaining fixtures we would really need to hit cataclysmic self-destruction mode in order to finish lower than an intertoto place.

As for the RB scenario, if Gardner doesn't return to fitness for the Sunderland match MON will really be left with no choice but to slot Barry in at LB, move Bouma over to the right side and leave Knight and Laursen in centre.

Who he'd slot into replace Barry in midfield is the tough one... Osbourne or Petrov? Take your pick...

Helix

jesus bouma at right back is the stuff of nightmares

id nearly rather petrov at right back

but we could theoretically play berger on the left side if we swapped like you said

Raekwon

I think we can officially kiss Europe good bye for next season, it's a real shame because we were in a good position to qualify for awhile but the injuries and suspensions are starting to mount up and MON's abysmal transfer activity has finally come back to haunt him.

For the next game we will probably have to start with Salifou as a rightback and prey that Bouma & Laursen both stay fit. What a ridiculous situation to be in :mad:

Helix

no way will he play the black zidane at right back, the guy is awful at tracking back

petrov seems the best bet to me, tho didnt ozzy slot in recently

Raekwon

Just to add to the Euro confusion: click

Savman

Ah balls to it anyway.

shoutman

I would physically feel sick if Villa finished seventh and didnt even get a intertoto place.

Helix

i said at the start of the season id take a 10 point improvement on last season, and i do stand by that in terms of the bigger picture

however, the fact that as anyone with a brain could see, mons ineptitude in the transfer market has cost us a real push at the business end

we've possibly overperformed this season with the players we have, seeing as there were few additions. hands up who can honestly see us doing the same again next season, regardless of who we do or dont sign?

i cant, this was our chance, this was the season we had to seize every available opportunity and set us up for the future. the problem is that the manager just wasnt prepared

Neil3030

If Portsmouth win the FA Cup or lose in the final to Cardiff, 7th will get us the Intertoto place.

Helix

pompey havent applied for the inter toto tho have they?

so it doesnt matter if they finish above us, its the highest placed applicant who gets it

Neil3030

Helix wrote: »

i cant, this was our chance, this was the season we had to seize every available opportunity and set us up for the future. the problem is that the manager just wasnt prepared

I'm inclined to agree with you. Keep in mind this season saw Bolton, Newcastle and Tottenham perform greatly below expectency. We don't look set to cash in at all.

Neil3030

Helix wrote: »

pompey havent applied for the inter toto tho have they?

so it doesnt matter if they finish above us, its the highest placed applicant who gets it

I don't know actually, I assumed they did.

Raekwon

Helix wrote: »

pompey havent applied for the inter toto tho have they?

No (well they are not admitting it anway). Only Everton, Villa, City and Blackburn have publicly announced their entry.

PHB

Villa tiny squad finally hits them hard. Very unlucky to an extent, nonetheless, if the right signings are made next summer, you know that MON can get them challenging for top 4.

Helix

PHB wrote: »

Villa tiny squad finally hits them hard. Very unlucky to an extent, nonetheless, if the right signings are made next summer, you know that MON can get them challenging for top 4.

dunno about that tbh

will there be so many teams being so poor next time round?

PHB

There are always poor teams

Helix

PHB wrote: »

There are always poor teams

next season is realistically going to require 8-10 new players for villa between the opening of the window in july to the close of the second window in january if we're going to build on this season

ive been saying this for a long long time, but this year will count for NOTHING if o'neill doesnt get the finger out and cop on in the transfer market

invincibleirish

Dreadful result, the past 4 days have ruined Villas season, MON & the players have only themselves to blame. its not even the end result its just Villa are playing poorly, 2 weeks ago Villa were within a shout for 4th spot, Everton & Liverpool stepped up a gear, Villa went down a gear.

Helix

i dunno if you can really blame the players THAT much

its more that theres nobody to step in and give players rests/change our gameplan during games

Savman

In the last few weeks I've been trying to etch that ugly phrase "Midtable Martin" out of my mind, but for some reason I just can't. It's a horrible nickname, even moreso because it's somewhat true.