Aston Villa Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

JPA

Gardner is decent but needs a good run at a club in centre midfield to see what he can do. A loan wouldn't be bad but not to that lot.

Helix

bill howell is doing a webchat at the minute at http://www.birminghammail.net/birmingham-sport/aston-villa-fc/aston-villa-news/2009/07/17/chat-live-with-aston-villa-writer-bill-howell-today-97319-24176471/

Bentley? Very much still in manager's thoughts. I don't think MON was too enamoured by Bentley's admission that he was in talks with Villa. I think the agent got a very shrift call to say: "Deny it or the deal's off". The agent denied it.... it's in Villa's best wishes to wait for Spurs to get a little desperate to sell.

JPA

Helix wrote: »

bill howell is doing a webchat at the minute at http://www.birminghammail.net/birmingham-sport/aston-villa-fc/aston-villa-news/2009/07/17/chat-live-with-aston-villa-writer-bill-howell-today-97319-24176471/

I'm reading it, but I don't think he knows anything the rest of us don't does he?



edit: And I think he's being quite unprofessional.

Helix

hed know perhaps a little more, not direct from the club, but hed have contact with agents etc so i wouldnt rubbish everything he says... just 95% of it

Time Magazine

JPA wrote: »

edit: And I think he's being quite unprofessional.

Bill Howell?

Surely not?

wynters

Apparently Man City have lodged an offical bid for Lescott of £15m. If there's any truth to this, and it begins to look like he might fancy a move then Villa should be in for him aswell. He's tailor made - Hometown club / Goal scoring centre-half...? Only 26. Would be good value even at £15m... City could always afford to pay higher wages though...

Sky Sports News understands that Manchester City have made a £15million bid for Everton's Joleon Lescott.

The Blues have been strongly linked with Chelsea skipper John Terry during the summer transfer window, with two offers reported to have been rebuffed by the Stamford Bridge outfit.

While they remain keen on the England captain, they now appear to have turned their attention towards Lescott.

The 26-year-old has been a revelation at Goodison Park since joining the Toffees from Wolves in 2006.

He has quickly established himself as one of the finest centre-halves in the Premier League, while he has also built a reputation for snatching crucial goals.

His impressive progress has not been lost on City, who are currently in the midst of a big-money rebuilding programme.

Carlos Tevez, Gareth Barry and Roque Santa Cruz have already joined the Eastlands revolution this summer and there are no signs that the club plan on slowing down.

Everton have always insisted that Lescott is not for sale at any price, but they may be forced to reconsider that stance in the wake of City's sizeable approach.

Helix

lescott cant play for us. there are... issues with him being in birmingham

wynters

Those rumours that he shagged some gangsters bird when he was at Wolves? A pile of crap I'm told...

Helix

not from what ive heard

Bounty Hunter

Helix wrote: »

not from what ive heard

from what ive heard he has said hed move back if it was the best move for his Career and sure if those gangsters really wanted him that much they coulda always driven to Merseyside no?

either way it matters not as we are not going to get into a bidding war with Man City nor can i see Villa signing a CB for 15+million even if he would be the perfect purchase. Disin being runoured as 2m today sounds a bit closer to what we can expect even if we would prefer something a bit more impressive

wynters

Helix wrote: »

not from what ive heard

... continue...

Helix

wynters wrote: »

... continue...

theyve already knocked lumps out of him once

JPA

Helix wrote: »

theyve already knocked lumps out of him once

Just speculation, it's not something that will ever be made public.

wynters

Helix wrote: »

theyve already knocked lumps out of him once

Is that what happend to his hairline???

JPA

wynters wrote: »

Is that what happend to his hairline???

Aged 5, Lescott was hit by a car outside his primary school and dragged down the road. He suffered severe head injuries, the scars of which are still visible today especially across the head and hairline, explaining why no hair grows on the top/front of his head.

MementoMori

Just having a look at the squad after the Downing arrival.
It makes for pretty grim reading especially when you consider the premier league kicks off 4 weeks tomorrow.

I have only included players who have featured for the club properly (as opposed to the youngsters who got a run out in Europe) as I can't see any of them suddenly making the jump up to any higher than fringe players and even that is fairly speculative.

Goalkeeper looks ok but still found the Stuart Taylor move a bit odd (moreso because of the keepers already at City - Given, Hart and Schmeichel, than anything) Does Friedel have one more year in him? Guzan as cover is still massively inexperienced in terms of games in England.

Up front I presume it's most likely Carew and Gabby as first choice with Heskey and possibly Harewood providing the competition. Could well see the rumour about Delfounseo going on loan being true as I think he needs to physically mature. I think the rumours of Harewood leaving have died down againm, which I'm not sure is a good or a bad thing.

Midfield - Well the left seems well covered anyway with Downing and Young. Don't think much of the idea of playing Downing elsewhere, as mooted by MON, but could be wrong on that. At the moment I would say NRC and Gardner to play DM in the CM alongside Petrov with Sidwell as a possible backup for Petrov. Overall though there looks to be a distinct lack of creativity on display here. On the right Milner is probably the only realistic option with Salifou not really worth considering imo.

Defence - Luke Young I would imagine will be an ever-present whether at LB or RB. Davies and Cueller at CB ahead of Knight on the bench with Shorey at LB ahead of the injured Bouma, who people are saying is crocked.
Overall the defence has to be considered the weakest area of the team especially in terms of cover which is pretty nonextistent at the moment in the full-back spots. Of the names listed I think probably only Young would be considered good enough for a top four side and that's probably pushing it. Davies on his day maybe but his temprament is questionable at the moment. If Luke Young got injured is would really mess things up.

Another thing I've been surprised about is the amount of Villa players in a small squad who have been linked with moves away over the last few months.
There has been talk of Knight (Bolton), Shorey( a while back) , Young (not a surprise doubt it was legitiamte), NRC (talk around the time of the end of season bash) , Gardner (Birm link) , Salifou (cant remember who - no great loss anyway) , Harewood (Seems to have died down) , Carew (very vague rumours) combined with Delfounseo going on loan. While these have been just rumours, and it has been mostly the weaker members of the squad that have been linked it has to be a worry, given the size of the squad especially considering the involvement in Europe.

Looking at the number of games this year there is 38 in the league plus a minimum of 1 each in the domestic cups, which is 40. In Europe Villa enter have a two-legged tied to get into the group stages of the Europa league. Assuming Villa win the two-legged tie, there would be an additional 6 games in the group stages. So that's a minimum of 48 assuming Villa win the pre-qualifying tie in Europe (which is pretty likely) and assuming Villa go out of both the domestic cups after one game (which is extremely unlikely) Realisticly you talking of a minimum of 50 games and probably looking at something around 55 games, with the possibilty of brushing towards 60 if you are talking about any sort of successful cup runs/success in Europe.

For the sake of arguement/illustration I have put together a first choice eleven and a second choice eleven from the players currently at the club.
Downing and Bouma are both in the second eleven due to their injuries.
I probably could have put some names down in the RB and LB for the second eleven but it would probably be pointless as I think if there were injuries to the first choice it would be a case of MON rejigging things and playing people out of position.

The first choice eleven looks reasonable without being especially impressive.
The second choice eleven is pretty worrying.
Luckily there is little to no possibility of the second choice eleven ever taking to a pitch but the point of the exercise was to illustrate the lack of quality cover throughout the squad. Basically the situation is that in the vast majority of positions, an injury to any of the first choice player means a player of significantly lower quality comes in. Another concern is that there are a couple of players who are pushing on age wise which always seems to make them more prone to knocks - Friedel, Young (in 2 days), Bouma, Petov, Heskey are all over 30 while Carew, Shorey and Knight are all up there. I wonder if the decline in the latter half of the season might not have been partially due to fatigue amongst some of the older members of the squad.

Friedel
L. Young Cuéllar Davies Shorey
Milner Reo-Coker Petrov A. Young
Carew Agbonlahor
Sub : Delfouneso


Guzan
?????? Knight Bouma ???????
Salifou Gardner Sidwell Downing
Heskey Harewood


Current Squad

1 Brad Friedel £2m
2 Brad Guzan £600k
3 Luke Young £5m
4 Wilfred Bouma £3.5m
5 Carlos Cuéllar £7.8m
6 Curtis Davies £10m
7 Zat Knight £3.5m
8 Nicky Shorey £3m
9 Steve Sidwell £5m
10 Ashley Young £8m
11 James Milner £12m
12 Stiliyan Petrov £6.5m
13 Nigel Reo-Coker £8.5m
14 Stewart Downing £12m
15 Craig Gardner Youth
16 Moustapha Salifou Free
17 Emile Heskey £3.5m
18 Marlon Harewood £4m
19 John Carew Baros Swap
20 Gabriel Agbonlahor Youth
21 Nathan Delfouneso Youth

Total Cost £94.9m

For those wondering about MON's ability in terms of transfere look at the squad that Arsenal have which cost about £90m or the squad Everton have which cost just over around £60m. If there are people who think that MON should be rated as better than average after comparing to those two squads, I would be pretty amused.

Overall I think the bare minimum that is needed is at least one decent quality CB , at least one full-back (depending on where L Young goes) and a AMC with a bit of creatitivity. That's the bare minimum. To have what I would consider a side challenging for a top four spot I would say at least 3 defenders (at least one CB and one full-back and possibly one who more defender as cover either CB/FB depending on what the story is with Bouma)

In the midfield I would say a decent right-sided player to compete with Milner plus the previous mentioned creative CM. I would two player so upgrade on Heskey and Harewood would be no harm, especially if one of those was a possible link player between midfield/attack a la Tuncay.

So this one got away from me -will be interesting to see what MON does before the season starts.

JPA

Very long post for a team you don't support.
Anyway, there will definitely be signings coming in, added to that, the villa team is more about being a team than individuals.

Time Magazine

MementoMori wrote: »

Overall I think the bare minimum that is needed is at least one decent quality CB

Distin on his way to do a Brad Friedel I imagine.

at least one full-back (depending on where L Young goes)

Warnock on his way apparently. Also need a RB but there's no great rush with that.

and a AMC with a bit of creatitivity.

Disagree here. For central midfield we have Petrov, NRC, Sidwell, Gardner. (We also have Osbourne and Salifou if completely stuck.) Then we'll probably be playing at least one of Young, Milner or Downing in a more central role. Especially if we go 4-5-1 with Gabby on the wing.

As far as I'm concerned we need, in order of importance:
LB (Warnock swap with Shorey, if Bouma comes back)
CB (Distin on his way, a fourth to replace Zat would be nice)
Fwd (some competition for Gabby if we're playing 4-4-2, especially if Fonz is going off to Leeds)
RB (please no more NRC there when Luke needs resting)

JPA

What does do a Brad Friedel mean?
Distin is only 31.

And the stories of Warnock are very vague rumours so far.


I'm fairly sure we'll sign a midfielder as well, almost guaranteed we'll sign Delph.

invincibleirish

Good post MM, its clear that the squad needs an injection of top class signings. The 'spine' has been weakend considerably from this time last season with the loss of Laursen & Barry as well as the uncertainty over Bouma. I can see Milner or Young being moved about also.

Key will be the attitude and performance of misfits Heskey, Sidwell, CC, Shorey & NRC if they are still around come the end of the window. Hopefully at least one of them will do a Petrov and finally realise some of their costly potential. My hope will be that NRC or Sidwell will finally come good and fill the Barry void in midfield.

Bounty Hunter

So going solely by recent links now the most likely/expected signings are...

distin, Tuncay, Delph

with an outside chance of...

Warnock, Bentley

and a remote chance of...

Bent, Ched Evans

o and King from Leicster is thankfully a no go, I only say thankfully as imo we can get a better prospect (Delph) than him or have one or two of our own (Gardner).

agent Dean Sheehan of Endgame has denied the reports.

"These stories are complete fabrication," Sheehan told skysports.com.

"Leicester assure me no bid has been received and no one at Villa has contacted me to see if Andy would even be interested in a move.

"I think someone has used Andy's name to maybe try to force another deal through, so it's a well deserved compliment that they felt Andy's was the most appropriate name to use.

"I would like to assure all the Leicester fans that Andy's immediate response without any hesitation was that he wanted to stay at Leicester, no matter who came in for him. It's never about money and it's not about Villa.

JPA

and a remote chance of...

Bent, Ched Evans

Jaysus, how can you lump those 2 together?
Bent has been linked a few papers, while Ched Evans was a random lie.

Time Magazine

JPA wrote: »

What does do a Brad Friedel mean?
Distin is only 31.

Come in for a few years until the younger guys can take over.

And the stories of Warnock are very vague rumours so far.

MysteryMan on VT knows his stuff and hinted at Warnock, who he had named in April.

I'm fairly sure we'll sign a midfielder as well, almost guaranteed we'll sign Delph.

A good addition but really defence is where we're weakest now.

Bounty Hunter

cos personally i dont expect Bent at all either tbh, wouldent mind if im wrong but if we are going to spend the amount required to recruit Bent id prefer a much better striker which could be got for such a fee but which I also dont expect.

invincibleirish

Would anyone not mind Guzan given a run of games or a new keeper was brought in to challenge Friedel?. Perhaps it was the ever changing defence last season but i thought Friedel was never anything more then alright. Better then Carson yes.

This Kasper Schmeichel link gives us the chance to reminisce over this odd sight.



Rathered David James tbh.

Esse85

Ha ha remember the goal he got at Everton??

Bounty Hunter

just stumbled across this

JPA

Bounty Hunter wrote: »

just stumbled across this

Steve Staunton did that in a match once, for Villa I think.

Neil3030

Just having a look down through this list of players out of contract, not a whole lot of potential tbh.

Also a bit outdated.

V1llianous

JPA wrote: »

Steve Staunton did that in a match once, for Villa I think.

That was the 27th August 1994 - my first match at Villa Park and I was about 3 rows back from him when he hit it

Mind you it was better than Young's one, it went right in the corner - bit of a mare from Crossley I think.

Samurai

that was stans specialty he did it more that once

invincibleirish

Did Stan not score one from a corner where McGrath tried to claim it but he wasn't having it?

Seaneh

I've done it in underage matches, its not hard to hit the target, but you need the keeper to **** up royally for it to go in.

And youngs one there wouldn;t have got near the goal in a match, it wouldnt have cleared the first defender!

matrim

Seaneh wrote: »

And youngs one there wouldn;t have got near the goal in a match, it wouldnt have cleared the first defender!

Right there. Although on the site there is a penalty challenge and one of youngs ones is very good

V1llianous

Samurai wrote: »

that was stans specialty he did it more that once

Well he did it twice in matches - he did it for Ireland against Portugal in a friendly in the USA also.

wynters

The more I hear from Downing, the more I like him...

How to say goodbye to fans properly...

Downing told Boro’s official website: “One day, I will be back. I would love to do that. In fact, I have already spoken to Steve Gibson about it.

“But I want to play at the top level and be with a club that can compete for European places.

“I’m a Boro fan and I want the club to do well.

“There are some really good players here and I’m sure they will be up there this season.”

and....

Express & Star
July 18th

Downing sought Young assurances

Stewart Downing today revealed a guarantee from Martin O’Neill that Ashley Young would not be sold was key to him signing for Villa.

Downing’s arrival for a club-record equalling £12m this week prompted speculation Villa may be tempted to cash in on £30m rated Young, who is interesting Chelsea, Tottenham and Manchester United.

However, the prospect of Young following Martin Laursen and Gareth Barry out of the Villa Park exit door and becoming the third key player to leave this summer was rejected outright by O’Neill yesterday.

And that stance has received the full support of Downing who admits he only agreed to sign after receiving assurances Young was staying put.

“The first thing I asked the manager was ‘are these players staying? Because I would like to play with them’ and his response was ‘no players will be leaving this football club unless they’re not playing,” said Downing.

“He said the likes of Ashley Young will not be leaving because he is trying to build a squad, not dismantle one. That was great news for me and that’s what made me sign really.”

Question marks have been raised over how the England pair can play in the same side with Young’s superb performances down the left for Villa last season enough to earn him the PFA Young Player of the Year award and Downing naturally left footed.

The dynamic duo could also find themselves fighting it out for a place on the plane to South Africa for next summer’s World Cup, but Downing insists the pairs’ versatility will allow O’Neill to play them together.

“I’ve known Ashley for quite a few years, I’ve seen him come here from Watford and he’s done really well,” he added. “There’s no rivalry. I might play on the left, him on the right, it might be the other way around. He might play up front, I might play up front. You need options, you have 60 odd games to play over the season.

“The manager here didn’t use many players last season.

“You need competition at a top club and this will bring the best out of everyone.”

wynters

'Just looking at the squad there...

Downing was Boro captain
as was Luke Young before him who also captained Charlton
Davies was West Brom captain
Carew is the current captain of Norway
Friedel was US captain
Petrov captained Celtic and is current Bulgaria captain
Reo-Coker captained West Ham
Sidwell captained Reading
and Heskey was Wigan vice-captain and even captained England once against Serbia in a friendly!!! :eek:

... kinda interesting considering we've lost last season's captain and vice captain. Still a lot of strong characters in there...

invincibleirish

Petrov for the captaincy as far as i am concerned. Should have got it after his performances in the first half of last season after Laursen got injured.

Kinetic^

Yeah defo Petrov.

shoutman

I don't think players should be made captain based on performance, its one thing leading by example, but if he doesn't have influence over the squad, or more particularly the not so professionnal players in the squad then its a pointless exercise in my opinion.

Without seeing the players day in day out in training, it is too hard to pick an adaquete captain in my opinion.

wynters

The armband makes some players better though... for me, Petrov would be a good, logical choice alright, but I don't think his performance levels would change too much because of it.

On the other hand, I think if Carew was given the armband, that extra responsibility could turn him into a better player. It shouldn't of course, because by that rationale you could argue that he's not applying himself as much as he could at the moment, but I think it could be interesting to see what would happen. Carew has an absolutely massive presence on the pitch and he's a cult hero with the fans, but I think most fans are still a bit unsure about the relationship he has with O'Neill...?

Maybe a public sign of trust or faith in him from the management - such as captain or even vice-captaincy - might get an extra 10% out of him...

Savman

Might be a little premature for Stan IMHO.

JPA

Savman wrote: »

Might be a little premature for Stan IMHO.

There's not many other candidates. He's there longer than anyone else now.
Unless you want Gabby to get it!

Peterborough: McKeown, Martin (c), Williams, Morgan, Pearce, Diagouraga, Howe, Coutts, Wright, Boyd, Rowe. Subs: Day, Frecklington, Lee, Green, Gaughran, Torres, Andrew, Rendell, Crook.

VILLA: Friedel, Cuellar, Knight, Davies, Shorey; Bannan, Sidwell, Reo-Coker (c), Albrighton, Weimann, Harewood. Subs: Parish, Lowry, Lichaj, McGurk, Roome, Hofbauer, Herd, Clark, Osbourne, Collins.

Teams for today.

shoutman

any streams for this?

JPA

shoutman wrote: »

any streams for this?

Seriously doubt it, just text commentary http://www.avfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/News/0,,10265~1726299,00.html

Time Magazine

Playing Cuellar at right back?

Even for a friendly, when will this madness end?

MementoMori

The Economist wrote: »

Playing Cuellar at right back?

Even for a friendly, when will this madness end?

It's getting towards the stage of comedy genuis by MON.:)

In fairness if L Young isn't there, its just clearly shows that there are no options for the RB spot.

Never know it might even inspire MON to actually buy a RB.

wynters

He's playing 3 at the back with two wing backs. I've always wondered why he hasn't tried this formation before? He always played 3 at the back at Leicester and Celtic....

+ Bouma played on the left side of a back 3 for Hiddinks PSV side that got to the CL semi-final a few years back...

Petrov and Reo-Coker sitting in front of the back 3 and Milner and Downing as wing backs...? Could be interesting...

invincibleirish

shoutman wrote: »

I don't think players should be made captain based on performance, its one thing leading by example, but if he doesn't have influence over the squad, or more particularly the not so professionnal players in the squad then its a pointless exercise in my opinion.

Without seeing the players day in day out in training, it is too hard to pick an adaquete captain in my opinion.

To be fair on Stan he showed far more commitment and dedication to the cause even when knackered towards the end of last season then the stand in captain did.

Esse85

Without taking Stans performance into consideration then, even when he was dropped and on the bench he never sulked or moaned, he vowed to work harder and win his place back, this is exactly the sort of attitude I think we need from a captain.