Aston Villa Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

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1-0.

Gardner.

mike65

There is a match thread for this sort of thing

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055364200&page=3

Mike.

Esse85

Well the match was poor, it just goes to show the need for cover at RB, a RM and a striker The draw is on tomorrow.

Savman

Feck it, we're in the hat anyway.

rgiller

How could you expect anything from a game that was wrapped up from the first leg? For an understrength team with a few debutants i think they did alright. It is worrying that we conceded though. Again.

Helix

only one player made a debut

just in the door from it now. been awake for 26 hours now, and time for bed, but my quick opinin of the game first.

we were awful again, with a relatively strong team out. nobody looked remotely interested apart from barry and routledge (who was very very good apart from trying to be too smart for his own good).

gabby was rubbish again, summed him up perfectly in the first half when he lost the ball and put his hands on his hips facing away from play as a great ball was played over to him which he duly missed. this is why we need someone who can come in for him when hes not on form so his confidence doesnt take even more of a bashing. he desperately needs a break from the first team imo

our inability to pass the ball 5 yards was a main feature of the game, again, apart from barry, routledge and salifou who played some bloody brilliant crossfield balls. he looked quite handy at times, but just never seemed totally interested or focussed

the fonz wasnt bad. he hassled and harried as youd expect from a 17 year old on his competitive debut, but he always seemed to be too deep for my likings. the ball would be played forward and he'd be 5 yards from the center circle with harewood up on his own

and since i mention him, harewood had one of the worst games ive ever seen a professional footballer have

all in all, we were diabolical

again

Neil3030

F365:

MILNER AT VILLA FOR MEDICAL - REPORTS
Posted 29/08/08 11:15


James Milner is understood to be at Villa Park today for a medical ahead of a transfer from Newcastle United.

According to reports, Villa have trumped late interest from Everton by offering the St James' Park outfit £12m for the winger. Villa's interest in Milner has been an open secret for some time and Newcastle paved the way for his departure earlier this week by announcing on their website that he had handed in a transfer request. It was subsequently revealed by the player's representatives that the request was actually made over a week ago and Milner had asked for it to be kept private.

matrim

Helix wrote: »

only one player made a debut

we were awful again, with a relatively strong team out. nobody looked remotely interested apart from barry and routledge (who was very very good apart from trying to be too smart for his own good).

gabby was rubbish again, summed him up perfectly in the first half when he lost the ball and put his hands on his hips facing away from play as a great ball was played over to him which he duly missed. this is why we need someone who can come in for him when hes not on form so his confidence doesnt take even more of a bashing. he desperately needs a break from the first team imo

our inability to pass the ball 5 yards was a main feature of the game, again, apart from barry, routledge and salifou who played some bloody brilliant crossfield balls. he looked quite handy at times, but just never seemed totally interested or focussed

the fonz wasnt bad. he hassled and harried as youd expect from a 17 year old on his competitive debut, but he always seemed to be too deep for my likings. the ball would be played forward and he'd be 5 yards from the center circle with harewood up on his own

and since i mention him, harewood had one of the worst games ive ever seen a professional footballer have

all in all, we were diabolical

again

Pretty much sums it up. Although I thought barry had a bad game. He made some good passes but his positioning was woeful at times.

Routledge had a good game and looked lively, Gardner had a decent first half but was anonymous in the second.

Esse85

Its a lot of money for Milner but im in favour of seeing him at the club and then if MON is happy to pay £12m for the lad, so am i.

Still, he's very raw, there's lots he needs to add to his game but i think he'll prove to be value for money within the next few years at VP, provided he signs.

JPA

It's a lot of money and I don't like the feeling of being used like that.
But feck it, it's only money.

rgiller

£12m though, that's an awful lot for him: maybe a case of last minute desperation. It's not like MON to pay over the odds. Still, it would be good to see him join if he does.

DSB

Milner signed:D Just a striker now and it'll be a successful window

V1llianous

Milner has signed it's on the OS !!!

Darn beaten !

JPA

I thought this would be a last minute job. Excellent!

Savman

Very good signing. I don't think anyone is kidding themselves that Milner is a world class player, but I think he could do very well at Villa.

The team has a bit of balance at last.
Yay

V1llianous

Villa play

PFC Litex Lovech (BUL)
Twice Bulgarian champions and three times Bulgarian cup winners. Finished fourth in the Bulgarian A PFG last season to secure a place in the UEFA Cup second qualifying round. Beat Israeli side Kiryat Shmona FC 2-1 to go into today's draw.


in the Uefa 1st round.

Away 1st leg so Home in 2nd leg.

event

lads, the reason it was £12 million is that we get 25% of the fee and newcastle wanted £9 million for him

so £12 million minus 25% (£3million) is 9, so works out for all

Villain

Jesus Fing Christ Milner as well???

Ok line up those who were slating MON and complained he wasn't signing players, your all getting 100 lashes!!

On a serious note this is a real strong addition and fits the bill for MON i.e. Young, English and great Attidtude I have no doubt he will improve as a player, we are building a very good team now all we need is for people to give MON the time to complete his 5 year plan and not start going mad if we don't get 5th this year. Rome wasn't built in a day....

Savman

"With the set-up that we have here now, if I can't become a better player with Aston Villa, I'm not going to develop anywhere."

PHB

Fantasic signing again from MON. They've really added well this year so far. First 6 pointer in their battle for 4th this weekend

rgiller

event wrote: »

lads, the reason it was £12 million is that we get 25% of the fee and newcastle wanted £9 million for him

so £12 million minus 25% (£3million) is 9, so works out for all

Who's we?

monkey9

rgiller wrote: »

Who's we?

Leeds

shoutman

Anyone know the date for the away game? Edit: home game is the 18th of sept and away game is 2nd of October.

Would be brilliant to get in an away european game, although i'm sure getting tickets wont be too easy.

Neil3030

Savman wrote: »

An Abercrombie man I see. Gets my vote. :pac:

machiavellianme

PHB wrote: »

Fantasic signing again from MON. They've really added well this year so far. First 6 pointer in their battle for 4th this weekend

Again, there is no game worth 6 points. You can only get 3 by winning so neither team can go 6 ahead no matter how you spin it. Just because Sky Sports make up these "catchphrases" doesnt mean they need to be repeated everywhere.

eagle eye

You have to hand it to Martin O'Neill, he always wanted Milner and he got him. A very impressive Summer for Villa on the transfer market, and holding on to Barry as well.

Mr Alan

sorry, i know i'll be called a troll, but 12m-13m for Milner is INSANE money, i really rate him and hoped we got him, but for about 6-8m!

also, the "MON has done brilliant in the transfer market is a little premature" Young and Shorey aren't near good enough imo for a team with any sort of CL aspirations, Sidwell has hardly kicked a ball in 18mths, Friedel looks back to his Liverpool glory days since going to yous and Cuellar is a big enough money signing for a position you dont nescessarily need.

The best business he has done is keep Barry, but at wat cost? Barry is refusing to discuss a new contract and still clearly wants to leave, I'm of the opinion that keeping a player at a club he does not want to be at is a bad idea.

I'd hold off on judgement until Christmas before saying how well MON has done in the market this summer.

(i'd say the same about Rafa before you all start crying into your chips)

Villain

Mr Alan wrote: »

sorry, i know i'll be called a troll, but 12m-13m for Milner is INSANE money, i really rate him and hoped we got him, but for about 6-8m!

also, the "MON has done brilliant in the transfer market is a little premature" Young and Shorey aren't near good enough imo for a team with any sort of CL aspirations, Sidwell has hardly kicked a ball in 18mths, Friedel looks back to his Liverpool glory days since going to yous and Cuellar is a big enough money signing for a position you dont nescessarily need.

The best business he has done is keep Barry, but at wat cost? Barry is refusing to discuss a new contract and still clearly wants to leave, I'm of the opinion that keeping a player at a club he does not want to be at is a bad idea.

I'd hold off on judgement until Christmas before saying how well MON has done in the market this summer.

(i'd say the same about Rafa before you all start crying into your chips)

Robbie Keane 20 million .....stone...glasshouse....

missingtime

Just to say that I was well impressed with the way that the transfer went (from a villa point of view) so congrats to ye.

But i'm bitter now cos i have to change my fantasy football team cos i have too many villans :mad:

tomred1

missingtime wrote: »

But i'm bitter now cos i have to change my fantasy football team cos i have too many villans :mad:

Same here! good signing for us.I like the look of the team now and we will be able to have a proper team photo now with actual 22 players!:eek:

machiavellianme

missingtime wrote: »

Just to say that I was well impressed with the way that the transfer went (from a villa point of view) so congrats to ye.

But i'm bitter now cos i have to change my fantasy football team cos i have too many villans :mad:

Technically you dont have to change it. Its only that you must change it when you next modify your team. You could leave the exact same team for the remainder of the season.

shoutman

Alan, it was a must that we signed a good centre back, Zat Knight just doesn't cut it at a side chasing european football.

All in all I think every villa fan will be at the very least happy with the transfer dealings. We filled in the spots that we needed (right back, cover at left back, a new centre back, a wide player on the right etc...). Also Mon still has one poke in the fire according to himself, so hopefully it wont be the end.

I'm hoping for a striker or maybe a versatile player that can play right and left midfield in case of injury.

Mr Alan

Villain wrote: »

Robbie Keane 20 million .....stone...glasshouse....

the last line of my post said i wouldnt judge if Rafas business was good until Christmas?!

but keane is undoubtadly in a different league to Milner.

Charlie

Well, like said, it came down to Newcastle deciding whethe to offer him a new contract or not, and it looks like they have decided against. I think there are two factors behid;

1) The club doesn't want to set an example that a player can seek a new deal only a year after signing his current one. Unless Milner had a season like Ashley Young did, I think its hard to quibble with this policy. The lad scored 1 goal, and got 1 assit last season.

2) The transfer fee that Villa have paid has probably made the decision of no. 1 easier. If it had of been a low low offer, the club would have been forced to keep a player that they knew was unhappy with his deal. This might not bode well for morale and wot not.

Kevin Keegan had some great honest words to say, and set the record straight on who called the shots.

Evening Chronicle wrote:

Keegan told the Chronicle:

"Obviously James is not a player you would want to sell.

"I would like to say though that it was my my decision to sell him.

"We got an offer that was good value and if you look into the next two or three days I wouldn't have sold him unless I knew I could move the club forward.

"We have a good chance of getting three or four players in before the deadline.

"I wish James the best for the future.

"It's right for everybody and people shouldn't think anything bad of him, he has done nothing wrong.

"You have to remember he hasn't sulked even when he was in the car park at Villa two years ago and then told to turn around.

"We have four or five other irons in the fire, two or three who I am seeing where we go with."

Speaking on his move to Villa, Milner said: "A lot has happened at this club since I was last here and I'm obviously delighted to be back. I was so close a couple of years ago but now I'm back.

"We've got a new training ground and a lot of new faces - on the staff and in the playing squad.

"This is a club on the way up and things have got better and better every season since I was last here. It's an exciting time to be here. This is a great place to be now. There's lots of young English talent.

"The top-four are the top-four and Aston Villa are getting better and better. We should be challenging now and as we look to improve we will be challenging.

"We're in the UEFA Cup this season and hopefully we'll do well in that. The next step then is obviously the Champions League. That's what we're working towards."

He added: "Martin O'Neill was a massive pull and I was ready to sign for him two years ago. He's got a great record and he's a fantastic manager. Look at the job he's done wherever he's been.

"Look at the squad he's built here. There are players in the England squad and players pushing to be involved. A lot of that's down to the manager.

"I've played 180 Premier League games and been involved in Europe as well. I'm lucky enough that I started when I was 16 so I've got a lot of football under my belt.

"I'm obviously a lot more experienced than when I was last here but I'm still young and still learning. This is a superb place to be with the players, the manager and the coaching staff we have here.

"With the set-up that we have here now, if I can't become a better player with Aston Villa, I'm not going to develop anywhere."

Esse85

Milner is probably worth about £8m now, but seen as he's only 22, he's got loads of time to develop and become a more rounded player thus increasing his value beyond £12m

I would not be surprised to see the lad be called up to the full England squad before the season ends as currently Beckham, Bentley, SWP and Lennon are all hit and miss at present.

I just hope he gets to play RM and stays there and doesnt end up playing off the striker or over on the left.

Its a good signing, the pace in the team now is frightening, Ashley Young should benefit as much as anyone with the signing.

Charlie

Esse85 wrote: »

Its a good signing, the pace in the team now is frightening, Ashley Young should benefit as much as anyone with the signing.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but pace is not something Jambo has in abundance. What e does have is the ability to play pas a man with his feet. But pace, no.

eagle eye

Mr Alan wrote: »

sorry, i know i'll be called a troll, but 12m-13m for Milner is INSANE money, i really rate him and hoped we got him, but for about 6-8m!

also, the "MON has done brilliant in the transfer market is a little premature" Young and Shorey aren't near good enough imo for a team with any sort of CL aspirations, Sidwell has hardly kicked a ball in 18mths, Friedel looks back to his Liverpool glory days since going to yous and Cuellar is a big enough money signing for a position you dont nescessarily need.

I'd say you just like being anti the popular view. I'm not a Villa fan by the way. I've read quite a lot of posts from you in different threads and it always seems to be the same boring stuff of disagreement with the majority.
If everybody here said that Martin O'Neill was useless and had done terribly in the transfer market and had spent way too much money on Milner, I am 110% certain that you would be in here disagreeing with that as well.
So yes you are a troll.

Villain

charlie mchugh wrote: »

Sorry to burst your bubble, but pace is not something Jambo has in abundance. What e does have is the ability to play pas a man with his feet. But pace, no.

I'd be surprised if he wasn't quicker than Nigel Reo Cooker or Petrov?

Esse85

charlie mchugh wrote: »

Sorry to burst your bubble, but pace is not something Jambo has in abundance. What e does have is the ability to play pas a man with his feet. But pace, no.

Im aware how quick Milner is, im also aware how quick, or slow i should say Petrov is, and by god he'd leave Petrov standing there in a race.

rgiller

machiavellianme wrote: »

Again, there is no game worth 6 points. You can only get 3 by winning so neither team can go 6 ahead no matter how you spin it. Just because Sky Sports make up these "catchphrases" doesnt mean they need to be repeated everywhere.

Two teams on equal points play each other. One team wins, goes three points ahead or loses and goes three points behind. Although only 3 points has been gained or lost, there is a 6 point gap between those two positions, in that the losing team will need to recover 6 points to get to the winning team's position. Only really counts for teams aiming for the same spot in the table. Come on, it's not that difficult to understand...

monkey9

machiavellianme wrote: »

Again, there is no game worth 6 points. You can only get 3 by winning so neither team can go 6 ahead no matter how you spin it. Just because Sky Sports make up these "catchphrases" doesnt mean they need to be repeated everywhere.

Jaysus, that's a fairly pedantic post, was there a need for it? If two teams are going for the same spot in the league and they play each other and there's a winner, well then the winning team gets three points and prevents the other team from gaining three points, hence the six pointer.
It'd just a phrase to describe a particular match between two teams vying for the same achievement.
And i'll also like to pedantically point out seeing as it's in fashion that that phrase has been around a lot longer than Sky Sports has.

~Rebel~

Hmmm, lets try out this explanation in practice.

rgiller wrote: »

Two teams on equal points play each other.

Team A 30 points, Team B 30 points

One team wins, goes three points ahead or loses and goes three points behind.

Team A 33 points, Team B 30points

Although only 3 points has been gained or lost, there is a 6 point gap between those two positions, in that the losing team will need to recover 6 points to get to the winning team's position.

Team A 33 points - Team B 30 points = 3 points....hmmm

Only really counts for teams aiming for the same spot in the table. Come on, it's not that difficult to understand...

I know what you mean, but a 6 point gap does not in fact open as you say. It is a nice phrase to explain the importance of the match though.


A better and far simpler explanation is that when two directly competing teams play, the winner gains 3 points and stops the loser from gaining 3 points, <edit> as monkey said above.

Esse85

Who gives a sh1t about that, we have potentially signed a new club record transfer fee for a player:)

monkey9

Mr Alan wrote: »

sorry, i know i'll be called a troll, but 12m-13m for Milner is INSANE money, i really rate him and hoped we got him, but for about 6-8m!

also, the "MON has done brilliant in the transfer market is a little premature" Young and Shorey aren't near good enough imo for a team with any sort of CL aspirations, Sidwell has hardly kicked a ball in 18mths, Friedel looks back to his Liverpool glory days since going to yous and Cuellar is a big enough money signing for a position you dont nescessarily need.

The best business he has done is keep Barry, but at wat cost? Barry is refusing to discuss a new contract and still clearly wants to leave, I'm of the opinion that keeping a player at a club he does not want to be at is a bad idea.

I'd hold off on judgement until Christmas before saying how well MON has done in the market this summer.

(i'd say the same about Rafa before you all start crying into your chips)

In fairness, Liverpool are actually IN the Champions League and i'd want to have Young in my team. Sure, did you not call him world class last week??

~Rebel~

monkey9 wrote: »

In fairness, Liverpool are actually IN the Champions League and i'd want to have Young in my team. Sure, did you not call him world class last week??

think he was just going through the players bought in This transfer window.

Without doubt Young and Carew were very good signings. Davies looks like he will be too.

kronsington

hi villa fans,

was just wondering are you lot satisfied with the players brought in this summer? what would you have done different? i think o'neill has bought excellently. quite a contrast with my team where arsene has done sweet f.a in the transfer market. most of my mates are villa fans (like a lot of irish started supporting around the staunton, townsend, mcgrath, houghton days) and i was curious to see what others thought

Mr Alan

monkey9 wrote: »

In fairness, Liverpool are actually IN the Champions League and i'd want to have Young in my team. Sure, did you not call him world class last week??

I was refering to Luke Young. One of the players that MON has signed this summer who people are raving about, he is now Villas only recognised RB- but is someone i have never been impressed with. A manager with unlimited budget and a club trying to break into the top 4 should be aiming higher imo is all.

monkey9

Mr Alan wrote: »

I was refering to Luke Young. One of the players that MON has signed this summer who people are raving about, but is someone i have never been impressed with. A manager with unlimited budget and a club trying to break into the top 4 should be aiming higher imo is all.

Fair enough. In that case, i concur.

Esse85

Mr Alan wrote: »

I was refering to Luke Young. One of the players that MON has signed this summer who people are raving about, he is now Villas only recognised RB- but is someone i have never been impressed with. A manager with unlimited budget and a club trying to break into the top 4 should be aiming higher imo is all.

What other RB is better than Young and would of joined Villa?

Mr Alan

of the top of my head, Finnan springs to mind. But i am sure there are plenty around Europe that would fit the bill