Aston Villa Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

wynters

Savman wrote: »

Early last season perhaps but I think he has improved his link up play. If you watch him (impartially) he's a lot more sensible with the ball now than he was before.

Basically, he's a better player than last year.

I agree... His physique, and his basic footballing intelligence were 2 things that needed some work. Physically, he's bulked up a bit and he's definitely harder to knock-off the ball these days, and he does seem to have improved slightly on the bread and butter stuff when in possession, although there's still a lot of room for imrpovement there....

But we're talking about a guy who broke Michael Owens scoring record at youth level (think he got 44 one season compared to Owen's 41 or something like that), so he definitely has the natural ability. I honestly can't understand why people are so quick to get frustrated with him??? He's not the finished article by any means, but he's still only a nipper in footballing terms, and should be judged with that in mind. The sensibilites will come with experience, but he needs to be given the time. He's still young, with time is on his side, and the attributes he is lacking CAN be learned and added to his game. I honestly think that - in time - he could become a superstar...

So less of the Gabby-bashing!!!

shoutman

I was in no way Gabby bashing when I posted that team, I just felt that the formation suits us better and obviously you'd choose Carew in that lone striker role of Gabby.

Nobody can say he is a world class player but he is definately of premiership standard.

Helix

shoutman wrote: »

Nobody can say he is a world class player but he is definately of premiership standard.

potentially imo

i dont think hes there yet. when hes on form hes great, when hes not hes not interested at all and we may as well have 10 men on the pitch

rgiller

You know he's going to score at least 10-15 goals this season though, which is a great return for someone who cost nothing. He's already got three. It's nice to have someone who can potentially come off the bench and still get that kind of a return

Savman

I think all Gabby critics should bear in mind the guy is 21

Helix

his age really has nothing to do with it imo

we need someone in in january who can come into the team when gabby goes through his regular 7 game spells without a goal. playing him during those spells is no good for him and its no good for the team

buckets of potential there and he may well turn out to be brilliant, but he may also turn out to be a darius vassell

invincibleirish

I think it's simple really, he has to score goals consistently. I'm sure MON is whispering into his ear sentiments reflecting the concerns on this board. In the meantime does anyone fancy Milner providing Gabby a bit of competition in playing in a forward role?.

Helix wrote: »

buckets of potential there and he may well turn out to be brilliant, but he may also turn out to be a darius vassell

LOL remember Vassell For England!, in particular his unbelievable goal on his England debut against the Netherlands, went on Youtube but could'nt find it. For a brief moment about 7/8 years ago i thought he was going to be the shiznezz.

spiderdan

The Mirror has us linked with Joey Barton??? Replacement for Barry, surely not- Thank fooooook the deadline has passed!!!! I do think MON should be keeping a very close eye on a replacement for Barry, 99% he'll be gone next Jan/ summer

wynters

Helix wrote: »

his age really has nothing to do with it imo

we need someone in in january who can come into the team when gabby goes through his regular 7 game spells without a goal. playing him during those spells is no good for him and its no good for the team

buckets of potential there and he may well turn out to be brilliant, but he may also turn out to be a darius vassell

I think his age does have a lot to do with it... The problems with his game - as far I can see - SHOULD be ironed-out as he gains more experience. And at the end of the day, he's not someone we've spent £10m on... so we shouldn't be so hard on him.

We do need another striker - agreed, but I'm happy that Fonzy will have at least until January to show what he can do if called upon.

Helix

yup definitely a good thing for fonz

one thing i didnt like about his game when i saw him last week was how deep he sat all the time, wouldve liked him to push up a little more, but its possible he was told to sit deep to allow him to run at the defence

Villain

I think Gabby can improve, his positioning and first touch needs to improve a lot but those can improve with expierence

Helix

he can definitely improve, he has to if hes going to be the player we want

hes got to work on his awareness more than anything else

villains77

---

Brad F

---

--Young

---

Davies

---

Laursen----Bouma--

---

Sidwell----Reo-Coker----Barry

---

--Milner

---

Young

---

Carew

---

Subs: Guzan/Taylor
Cuellar
Shorey
Petrov
Gabby
Balou
Gardner[/quote]


has a good look to it. should be plenty of goals in the side if we remain free form injuries heres hopiong to a great season. next match should be on in murrays bar (frazers) on oconnell street 8pm

villains77

give gabby a break hes still only 21 you are all a bit harsh on him i know he will come good with age give him. time. he has the skill. just has to use it for the 90 mins in every game. i say we will have a great season again. 5th or 4th (if pool play the way they played against us the last day)

Neil3030

I'm not bashing Gabby at all, I'm just pointing out the glaringly obvious inconsistency he's showing lately and should Sidwell return to form I favour him in the team in a 4-3-3/4-5-1 formation at Gabby's expense.

Obviously Gabby has bags of potential, but I think too many people are being seduced by the hat-trick and other isolated flashes of brilliance, using them as evidence that he is justifiably a first team regular - he's not. I saw it myself in VP, Helix has seen it likewise, the guy just looks disinterested a lot of the time, rarely gets his head up, doesn't pass when he should, runs straight into defenders - basically all the tell tale signs of a player yet to develop awareness or a 'football brain' or whatever you want to call it.

If we're to be challenging for 4th-6th in the league, we can't risk regularly starting a player that shows such inconsistency. He should be a squad regular, 2nd in line to a 20 goal striker, getting a 15-20 minute run as an impact subs in most league games, and a starting role in cup matches.

shoutman

Great to see Gabby and Milner scored both goals in england U21's 2-0 win over Portugal.

DarenO

Well the reserves keep on winning, 1 nil against Spurs hopefully the same result on Monday for the full team

Darren

invincibleirish

Football365 wrote: »

BOUMA EXTENDS VILLA STAY

Wilfred Bouma has signed a new two-year contract with Aston Villa.

The 30-year-old is currently recovering from a dislocated ankle which he sustained in Villa's Intertoto Cup clash against Odense.

Bouma joined Villa in August 2005 from PSV Eindhoven but struggled to establish himself in a debut campaign which was tarnished by injures.

O'Neill's arrival at Villa Park though saw the player establish himself as the club's first-choice left-back before he picked up an ankle problem against Odense.

Following the injury to the Dutch defender O'Neill signed Nicky Shorey from Reading for an undisclosed fee.

Despite his recent history of injuries, and the arrival of Shorey, O'Neill has decided to reward Bouma with a new deal, which also has the option of a third year.

http://www.football365.com/story/0,17033,8652_4121502,00.html

Excellent news.

rgiller

shoutman wrote: »

Great to see Gabby and Milner scored both goals in england U21's 2-0 win over Portugal.

Ssshhh! Didn't you hear? Gabby is rubbish apparently (according to some twonks on here)

Neil3030

rgiller wrote: »

Ssshhh! Didn't you hear? Gabby is rubbish apparently (according to some twonks on here)

Is this a straw man tactic or manifest illiteracy?

Helix

rgiller wrote: »

Ssshhh! Didn't you hear? Gabby is rubbish apparently (according to some twonks on here)

do you only remember every 4th game or something?

rgiller

Helix wrote: »

do you only remember every 4th game or something?

Do you only remember every 4th post?

Quote from you from previous page:

gabby can occasionally do it given the right service, the rest of the time he wastes the ball, runs straight into opponents, or refuses to pass to players in better positions

Helix

rgiller wrote: »

Do you only remember every 4th post?

Quote from you from previous page:

gabby can occasionally do it given the right service, the rest of the time he wastes the ball, runs straight into opponents, or refuses to pass to players in better positions

and thats true, so i dont see your point there

shoutman

If people are wondering why this thread has gotten a bit quieter it may be cause there are a few of us over on VillaTalk where they have created an IrishVillans forum. http://www.villatalk.com/index.php?module=PNphpBB2&file=index

I'm notmilner on there btw. Also anyone interested there will probably be a few of us watching the spurs game in murrays on O'Connell street.

Villain

Surprised to see NRC start ahead of Milner but he has justified it!

Helix

gomez made up for a couple of great saves with a howler for us

nicely done lol

Time Magazine

Jaysis that was tough to watch. Marlon ****ing Harewood. Plonker.

At least we won in London. UP THE VILLA!

Savman

Great result, should've killed the game off was thinking it was gonna be deja vu but overall a well deserved 3pts.

Thought Gabby was absolute poison, and the Carew injury is not good news :rolleyes:

Savman

David McWilliams wrote: »

Jaysis that was tough to watch. Marlon ****ing Harewood. Plonker.

At least we won in London. UP THE VILLA!

Ah sure there ye are. You're famous roysh? :pac::pac:

Twas a shocker of a miss.

~Rebel~

Savman wrote: »

Thought Gabby was absolute poison, and the Carew injury is not good news :rolleyes:

anything been mentioned about the extent of the injury yet?

Helix

looks like he twisted his ankle to me

Time Magazine

Savman wrote: »

Ah sure there ye are. You're famous roysh? :pac::pac:

Twas a shocker of a miss.

I'm thinking of changing my nick to Marlon Harewood but keeping the "Plonker" moniker.

Gabby has great instincts but jaysis he's crap, as Helix says, when he gets a second to think. When he was one on one with Bale you could see him thinking "uhhhhhh...." And I don't blame Reo-Coker for trying to shoot on that counter-attack. Did Gabby run offside?

DSB

Well I think Gabby ran offside because ReoCoker was so slow to make the pass.

Helix

as a team in general we dont seem to release the ball early enough on the break

barry is the only one who can consistantly get it right with quick through balls

Savman

Barry was feckin top class tonight, absolutely ran the show. Back 5 look solid bar maybe Shorey who just couldn't get to grips with Lennon at all.

As for Marlon...:eek:

eagle eye

Its all about good management, tactics etc.

If you look at the two sides tonight on paper, there should be very little between them. Credit to Martin O'Neill, Villa have steadily improved and continue to improve under him.

shoutman

Could easily of been five goals tonight but i'm still happy enough. I'm sure work will be done in training on those break away situations.

All in all I felt it was a good performance, defensively especially we looked very sound.

Petrov started off well but made a few careless mistakes in the second half, would have liked to see sidwell introduced there.

Davies and Laursen were quality at the back. Hopefully big John's knock isn't too serious, he really is invaluable to us.

spiderdan

great result- our defense looked very solid indeed, was really surprised to see Milner on the bench- Reo justified his inclusion though, doubtful how many more times he'll do that on the right, I'd defo drop Petrov play Reo there and have Milner on the right. Gabby really doesn't look like he has much of a clue- thought L. Young played very well, looks like a good signing, Shorey wasn't that bad either made a few vital blocks- Carew- get well soon!!

Boggles

Savman wrote: »

Barry was feckin top class tonight,

Watched the game on a Romanian channel, so commentary doesn't bias opinion.

Thought Barry was the best player on the pitch alright. Also I think Friedel played his best game thus far for the Villa.

Tuned in hoping for a repeat of the match last season, overall the game was poor thou, still at least there was prem soccer on an otherwise boring Monday evening.

Savman

Love this pic

villains77

great to see us beat the spurs i was away on my hols and my villa mates were keeping me informed but when the text arrived that bent scored them last 5 mins seemed like a lifetime i was so relieved when i got the final result. could find a french bar to watch it in can somebody send me on a vid of the goals

Im_No_Superman

villains77 wrote: »

great to see us beat the spurs i was away on my hols and my villa mates were keeping me informed but when the text arrived that bent scored them last 5 mins seemed like a lifetime i was so relieved when i got the final result. could find a french bar to watch it in can somebody send me on a vid of the goals

http://www.101greatgoals.com/

For all your goal watching needs.

Thought Laursen and Davis were fantastic for ye on Monday.

Savman

Aye those last 5mins felt like an eternity.

Also, I wish SSN would stop showing that feckin montage of Kevin Doyle banging in the goals :rolleyes:

DSB

Savman wrote: »

Aye those last 5mins felt like an eternity.

Also, I wish SSN would stop showing that feckin montage of Kevin Doyle banging in the goals :rolleyes:

Haha he still wouldn't have done it consistently in the Premiership. Hopefully we get someone a bit higher class in January.

Savman

DSB wrote: »

Haha he still wouldn't have done it consistently in the Premiership. Hopefully we get someone a bit higher class in January.

Hmmm...I'd have been happy to gamble on him, especially versus the alternative: an injured Carew, a misfiring Harewood and an inconsistent Gabby.

DSB

Savman wrote: »

Hmmm...I'd have been happy to gamble on him, especially versus the alternative: an injured Carew, a misfiring Harewood and an inconsistent Gabby.

Nah I agree totally that our striker situation is far from ideal, but I think we're safe enough to wait until January for the right player. Carew's injury isn't serious apparently, I think Gabby is good enough to be first choice for most Premiership teams, Harewood will do a job and we've the young lad Delfoneuso (sp?) to give a chance if necessary. I think I've turned into the eternal optimist in the sense that I can't help but think that if this is the worst of our squad problems we're in some beautiful position compared to that of a year ago.

Savman

DSB wrote: »

I think I've turned into the eternal optimist in the sense that I can't help but think that if this is the worst of our squad problems we're in some beautiful position compared to that of a year ago.

Oh dear, he's gone all soft :pac:

DSB

Converted O'Neill fan for life here:cool:

Savman

Actually, on that note (and from a similar VT thread) I'd like to raise a topic for discussion.

Stiliyan Petrov

Has had more than his share of critics, combined with absent performances and a prolonged spell in the reserves. One would be forgiven for labelling him a flop and MON's worst buy, below even Harewood and Knight.

I would be curious whether Petrov/MON critics would be willing to acknowledge the sheer graft the guy has put in to new be keeping Sidwell and Milner out of the starting 11. IMHO it speaks volumes about his character and explains why MON paid the dosh for him in the first place, attitude.

He's not yet the finished article, but it's hard to see him being dropped if he keeps doing what he's doing. £12m Milner has potentially woken a £6.5m Petrov, that's gotta be worth something?

Anyone still think Stan's rubbish?

DSB

Savman wrote: »

Actually, on that note (and from a similar VT thread) I'd like to raise a topic for discussion.

Stiliyan Petrov

Has had more than his share of critics, combined with absent performances and a prolonged spell in the reserves. One would be forgiven for labelling him a flop and MON's worst buy, below even Harewood and Knight.

I would be curious whether Petrov/MON critics would be willing to acknowledge the sheer graft the guy has put in to new be keeping Sidwell and Milner out of the starting 11. IMHO it speaks volumes about his character and explains why MON paid the dosh for him in the first place, attitude.

He's not yet the finished article, but it's hard to see him being dropped if he keeps doing what he's doing. £12m Milner has potentially woken a £6.5m Petrov, that's gotta be worth something?

Anyone still think Stan's rubbish?

I still don't think hes much use, but his recent performances definitely havent warranted anything like the criticism his performances early to mid last season did. He still has a hell of alot to prove for me to view him as a first choice player, but he has improved alot.