Aston Villa Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

Time Magazine

I doubt I could afford a trip, but it's currently €70 to fly into Bratislava on Nov 5 and to come back on Nov 7 with Ryanair.

One Cold Hand

Obviously Ajax and Hamburg will be good teams.
Don't know much about Slavia, but what makes this group tough is that they are the other team battling for the third spot, and we have to play them away. An off night and it's not inconcievable that we could lose. It will be very tough to get through then.

I agree, we should go through, but it won't be easy.

Mr Alan

following on from a conversation in the Utd thread, how much do you reckon it would take to prise Ashley Young away from Villa?

Villain

40 - 50 million pounds

Mr Alan

over estimating a little i think.... but closer to my estimation, cheers

Samurai

darn, would've enjoyed a trip to amsterdam :rolleyes:

Boggles

Villain wrote: »

40 - 50 million pounds

Crazy money. He is not even an international.

Villain

lol remember what happened when we went looking for crazy money for Barry

invincibleirish

Man Utd or Pool could not afford Ashley Young. Given the current economic times and both of those clubs huge debts all Villa have to do if they choose is put a price on him that they will not match(and by they i mean the money men who run the clubs, not management).

Excellent UEFA cup draw. I know Hamburg are decent but i think its still a relatively easy group to qualify out of.

Helix

Mr Alan wrote: »

following on from a conversation in the Utd thread, how much do you reckon it would take to prise Ashley Young away from Villa?

i honestly dont think we'd accept a bid below £50m

JPA

Interesting to get an insight into the mind of United fans in their thread,

"I'll have that one and that one and sure throw in him as well".

One Cold Hand

From Villatalk, a guide to Group F:

AFC AJAX (Villa Park, 23rd October)

Four times winners of the European Cup, and one of only three teams to have won this trophy, the UEFA and the Cup Winners' Cup, Ajax have lagged a little of late. Last season they were knocked out of the Champions League by Slavia Prague in the qualification round, and fell to Dinamo Zagreb in the UEFA quals, eventually finishing second in the Eredivisie behind PSV. As of this week they're languishing in 10th after five games. The face off between O'Neill and Marco Van Basten should make for a cracking game, but we should really have this in the bag.

European games so far: FK Borac - 7:1 agg (UEFA 1st Round)
Key players - Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Ismail Aissati, Dennis Rommedahl

SLAVIA PRAGUE (Stadion Eden (21,000 cap), 6th November)

Currently two points clear at the top of the Gambrinus Liga, with 22 points from 9 games. Despite making the Champions League qualifiers six times in the last ten years, they have only qualified for the group stages once - last season - finishing third after a 7-0 drubbing from Arsenal. They went on to lose 3-2 on aggregate to Spurs in the first UEFA knockout round. This season they reached the CL qualifiers again after winning the Gambrinus before going out, again, to Fiorentina. The game could go either way - win would be a great result, but can see us losing away from home...

Euro games so far: Fiorentina - 0:2 agg (CL Qual)
Key players - Tomas Necid (league top scorer), Tijani Belaid, Vladimir Smicer

MSK ZILINA (Villa Park, 4th December)

The Slovakian team have the lowest coefficient of any team in the group stages, and currently lie second in the Slovak Superliga. Went out in the CL quals last season to, yes, Slavia Prague (some weird coincidences going on in this group) and you might have a hazy memory of Chelsea thrashing them 10-0 on aggregate a few years ago. They only just appointed a new manager last week. The last time we faced Slovakian opposition was 15 years ago (beating Slovan Bratislava 2-1) and we can reasonably expect the result to be much the same this time around, although their surprise win against Levski Sofia in the first round shows we shouldn't underestimate the minnows.

Euro games so far: MTZ-RIPO - 3:2 agg (UEFA 1st quals); FC Slovan Liberec - 4:2 (2nd quals); Levski Sofia - 2:1 (1st Round)
Key players - Adauto (token Brazilian striker); Robert Jez; Zdeno Strba

HSV (HSH Nordbank Arena (57,274 cap), 17th December)

The toughest match of the group stages, we're going to have to hope we've already qualified by the time we get on the plane. Under Martin Jol they've shot to the top of the table, three points ahead of second after just seven games, and their fast, attacking football, as well as a lethal partnership (Petric & Olic) up front could cause us problems. After years as perennial also-rans, they're starting to sniff a trophy or two (ring a bell?); can see this game being a quality scrap for first place.

Euro games so far: Unirea Urzicani - 2:0 agg (UEFA 1st Round)
Key players - Nigel De Jong; Ivica Olic; Mladen Petric

Helix

ajax tickets on sale tomorrow at 9

Esse85

Ashley Young named the premiership's player of the month for September.

http://www.football365.com/story/0,17033,8652_4296912,00.html

Savman

Good call Fabio.... :rolleyes:

Savman

So, back to business...:D

Esse85

Link to the match

http://www.justin.tv/malstromhd

invincibleirish

2 points dropped today, bar Carew's header and CDs chance Villa were useless going forward, Milner had a mare. Still though Ajax on Thursday cant wait.

Esse85

What a bad result today, certainly 2 points dropped.

I only saw the 2nd half but Milner was awful, his crossing was brutal and he gave the ball away numerous times.
As for Gabby he got into good positions out wide, but he's unable then to pick out a team mate in the box.

Petrov and Young were the best performers i felt, Young was a constant threat, and Petrov read the game well and got through a lot of work.

It was a strange choice to play Barry LB and Cuellar RB, Pompey went down to 10 men with 10 mins to play and i looked to the bench to see if we'd a match winner, Harewood was all we had!!

At least its a clean sheet i suppose.

invincibleirish

The first half was end to end, after 20 minutes it looked inevitable someone was going to score, the 2nd half was limp in comparison which was possibly due to Mike Rileys over zealous approach. But i felt the same as you Esse85 when looking at the bench, i suppose we have to give allowances for Milner & Sidwell when he returns time to settle into the team. Roll on January and that £30m:pac:

Kudos to Pompey though, they defended well.

Helix

invincibleirish wrote: »

2 points dropped today, bar Carew's header and CDs chance Villa were useless going forward, Milner had a mare. Still though Ajax on Thursday cant wait.

we didnt deserve any more than a point

villa park was ****in dead again

rgiller

UEFA cup tonight: come on Villa! Is the game on tv?

JPA

Game is on Setanta Ireland after Spurs.

Team News:

VILLA: Friedel; A Young, Cuellar, Laursen, Shorey; Reo-Coker, Barry, Petrov; Agbonlahor, Milner, A Young. Subs: Guzan, Sidwell, Harewood, Davies, Knight, Salifou, Gardner.

Ajax: Vermeer, Barone, Renom, Vermaelen, Vertonghen, Lindgren, Emanuelson, Huntelaar, Suarez, De La Torre, Sarpong. Subs: Vonk, Wiel, Cvitanich, Santiago, Sno, Anita, Schilder.

Carew is sick or something.

JPA

Well, that was a bit good.

rgiller

Great result! O'Neill reckons a home win and a draw in just one of the two away games will put us through. I think we'll get at least that

Savman

Very pleasing indeed

matrim

It was a nice win. I just hope Gabby isn't seriously injured.

The one thing I think it highlighted is that we're missing a midfielder who bursts forward into the box to get on the end of crosses.

There were plenty of times that crosses came in and there was no one coming into or in the center of the box to get onto them.

shoutman

It looked like it was just studs to his knee, probably very painfull, maybe swollen but I doubt it could be anything that would do long term damage, we really were missing big John up front as Gaby is never very effective in a lone striker type role.
In January i'd say we will be on the lookout for a striker as first call of business.

As far as midfielders getting into the box I don't think its so much down to the individual player as just MON saying Barry I want to see you making those runs....

Doodee

Barry was working fairly hard yesterday. Its a good sight, thing the happenings of the summer are behind him now.

We desperately need a quality striker up forward. Gabby was non existant last night.
I wonder what January will bring ....

Savman

Doodee wrote: »

I wonder what January will bring ....

If we're thru to the next round of UEFA Cup, I'd be hoping for a RSC-esque addition. Wouldn't be surprised at a Doyle/Heskey type though, this is MON we're talking about.

rgiller

Doodee wrote: »

Barry was working fairly hard yesterday. Its a good sight, thing the happenings of the summer are behind him now.

We desperately need a quality striker up forward. Gabby was non existant last night.
I wonder what January will bring ....

That's funny, didn't see the game, but reports I've read have described his performance as very accomplished. Definitely need a cover striker (or someone for Gabby to provide cover to) in January though. Apparently we can't afford Santa Cruz but someone equally talented would be nice

spiderdan

who and what are peoples expectations for this 30m this summer? Doyle/ Heskey eh looking for better IMO! Heskey does a good job for Rooney/ Zaki etc holding the ball up creating space but thats not what we want, we need an out n out goalscorer end of, and some creativity in the midfield- upfront Zaki could be a possibility?? Great result last night BTW

Helix

the £3m isnt for summer, its for january

we need 2 forwards and a creative central man

invincibleirish

Tis only the Mirror reporting the 30m thing, but still surely Randy will open his chequebook in January. But who could Villa buy?, is 18m for RSQ really a possibility(maybe Blackburn will take Barry in exchange:D).

The time is right for a new No 9 to become a legend at VP(sorry Marlon), i'd love to see a Huntelaar, but surely its more likely to be a Doyle like signing.

OPENROAD

Is Luke Young likely to start for you at the weekend?

Helix

yup

Helix

invincibleirish wrote: »

But who could Villa buy?

doyle, martins, a. n. other

Helix

john carew has let the club down big time

silly boy

shoutman

Helix wrote: »

john carew has let the club down big time

silly boy

What didi he do? Linky?

edit: birmingham mail reporting he was spotted out on the piss the night before the match.

JPA

shoutman wrote: »

What didi he do? Linky?

edit: birmingham mail reporting he was spotted out on the piss the night before the match.

No suggestion that he was drinking but anyway let's not make a bigger deal out of it then it is. He was already dropped.

Helix

broken curfew is a broken curfew

he was too tired to play in the match too apparently

if he ****s up again thatll be him out the door, which would be a disaster

villains77

great win for the villa on thurs was at it. great atmosphere. hope we get the win today

shoutman

Gaby is starting but Carew still not in the line up.

invincibleirish

link anyone?

Helix

i think 2 games ban and a fine is fair enough for acting the maggot

id like to see him back on wednesday tho

we're 1-0 up anyway

Helix

invincibleirish wrote: »

link anyone?

http://astonfm.com/static_content/liveplayer.htm

no stream so far that ive seen

Helix

sopcast

http://www.myp2p.eu/broadcast.php?matchid=21730&part=sports

V1llianous

Just to let you know lads I've just invested in an Internet Radio (reciva compatible model) and you can get BRMB which excludes the Villa commentary and Aston FM which broadcasts the matches live at the moment.

Savman

Delira for Sidwell, cracking goal today. Result wasnt half bad either...ah good times

Helix

great stuff today

roll on blackburn, a win there will bring us back up to the magical 2 points per game that guarantees champo football