Aston Villa Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

Savman

SSN saying Berbatov is doubtful for Saturday. Boo hoo

rgiller

invincibleirish wrote: »

I want to believe.

13 years, 4 managers, 2 chairmen and dozens of players since that other 3-1 win in the league.

Sometimes they hammer us, sometimes they scrape through but they seemingly always beat us.

Now is as good as time as any to play MU, but ever since the tragedy that was their comeback in that Cup tie i've stopped thinking we can beat them.

Great video!

Villain

I hate the Utd games, I always fear the worst but hope for a shock but they just never happen, thanks for the video invincibleirish I remember that game so well.

JPA

Check out this new ad for Nike, chock full of Villa players and MON.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rl-fHSAMdmM

shoutman

MON's reaction is priceless.

One Cold Hand

shoutman wrote: »

MON's reaction is priceless.

Yeah brilliant! You kind of know it's a genuine question too!

'Are people going to wear those?!'

Villain

Cuellar's out of Utd game

JPA

Villain wrote: »

Cuellar's out of Utd game

And Carew is fit. Probably see this team:

Friedel

Young Davies Laursen Shorey

Petrov Sidwell Barry

Milner Young

Gabby

Maybe NRC will come in to add more of a bite to midfield or possibly Carew to test Evans and Vidic. (Or Rio if he's OK)

We have the best team/squad for many years so I'm cautiously optimistic.
However Rooney and Ronaldo always do well against us. So its fingers crossed in hope more than anything.

Helix

shoreys gonna get destroyed

Savman

Helix wrote: »

shoreys gonna get destroyed

Usual optimism I see.

invincibleirish

Villa play Arsenal at home on the 26th, between then each team has these EPL games:


Villa have Fulham (H), Everton (A) and WHU (A)
Arsenal have Chelsea (A), Wigan(H), Boro (A) and Liverpool (H)

Plus 2 European games each and Arsenal have a LC game.

Lots of interesting permutations.

V1llianous

rgiller wrote: »

Great video!

I agree great video, I still feel sorry for Kanchelskis - only thing missing from the video was that great stop by Bosnich from Hughes who volleyed full power from 6 yards out and Bossie dived and saved it.

V1llianous

Good result. Should have a penalty and a few good chances but probably a fair result - don't think Ronaldo liked playing against us this time

Glad we have a break from the European games this week, should give us more time to rest and get 3 points from Fulham.

matrim

yeah a great result. So anyone getting the villa cookbook that the commentator mentioned. John carew apple crumble

JPA

matrim wrote: »

yeah a great result. So anyone getting the villa cookbook that the commentator mentioned. John carew apple crumble

http://www.avfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/ElsewhereDetail/0,,10265~1461946,00.html


John Carew could probably go through 5 or 6 apple crumbles in one sitting.

shoutman

Great result, unfortunate with the Gabby/Vidic thing, we really were the better side in the second half, with utd's only real chance was the Rooney one.

Another good performacne, incredibly strong defensively. Was really impressed with Reo-Coker at right back, yes he got beaten once or twice, but he added an element going forward. Shorey must feel like sh!t though when the manager is dropping midfielders to play out of position just so he doesn't have to play Shorey!

Up to fourth, delighted.
Thing I still think we need is a midfielder who will run into the box to try and sneak a goal, there are chances there when crosses come in and Gabby or Carew doesn't get much on it and it pops back a little into the box but there is no one there to take a swipe at it.

Savman

I thought Gabby was superb in the lone role, against a very strong defence feeding on scraps it has to be said. Barry nearly cost us the first half but looked every bit the £18m player in 2nd half (and then some). Petrov puts them all to shame these days though, calmness personified.

The rot has stopped against ManU which is all we could've asked for really, something like 14 consecutive wins over Villa in all competitions :eek: ...embarrassing tbh.

Now that we convincingly beat Arsenal at their place and won a hard fought point at home to United, next up we've Fulham at home. Oh dear.

shoutman

Oh dear indeed, i think pessimism suits us tbh.

Anyway i'm already planning to go to the away trip against UTD, dare I say it will be very hard to pick up two tickets?

RasTa

lol that was never a peno, miles outside the box

shoutman

RasTa wrote: »

lol that was never a peno, miles outside the box

It started outside the box but I think he fell inside the box, I didn't even think it was a fair tackle when Gabby finally went down, Vidiv seemed to go right over the ball, either way it would of been a red card if it was a foul outside the box, no one can say it wasnt a game changing decision.

invincibleirish

Savman wrote: »

Petrov puts them all to shame these days though, calmness personified.

+1 on this, Petrov was yet again excellent yesterday. I'm delighted he is playing so well, puts all those naysayers like me to shame who doubted him previously.

Gabbys progress can surely be measured in that MON plays him on his own against Vidic & Ferdinand.

Kudos to NRC for having Ronaldo in his pocket for the whole game, it was brilliant to see.

As for Fulham, this has to be a banker 3 points, heres hoping the Boro/NUFC debacle was just a blip. next weekend Arsenal are away at Chelsea, hopefully this time Villa will seize the initiative. hopefully!.

Helix

the diffference in petrov this season is nothing short of incomprehensible

hes not just a whole new player, hes almost bloody well 2 new players lol

invincibleirish

If we'd have known in the summertime what Petrov was going to turn into the GB saga might not have been as traumatising had we known Petrov was going to gazump him anyway.

What makes me curious though is what happened exactly? IIRC he put in some decent performances towards the back end of last season but his consistency, energy and drive this season has surpassed anything he has done in his previous 2 years. Has MON whispered something in his ear? is he just playing for a new contract? either way long may it continue.

Helix

i think the sidwell signing kicked him in the arse

he saw that he was being replaced and got the head down imo

Villain

1	Chelsea		14	33
2	Liverpool	14	33
3	Man Utd		13	25
4	Villa		14	24
5	Arsenal		14	23
6	Hull City	14	22
7	Everton		14	19
8	Portsmouth	14	19

So after Everton lost last night we have a bit of a cushion from them again, anyone got a league table from this time last year? I think we actually had more points?

Helix

Villain wrote: »

anyone got a league table from this time last year? I think we actually had more points?

1  	Arsenal 	13	33
2 	Man Utd 	14	30
3 	Manchester City 14	29
4 	Chelsea 	14	28
5 	Liverpool 	13	27
6 	Aston Villa 	14	27
7 	Portsmouth 	14	26
8 	Everton 	14	23

Villain

Where did u find that Helix I searched everywhere?

Helix

official site

click on match > fixtures & results > first team

then set the season to last season, then click on TB beside any fixture you chose, and itll show you how the table stood after that game

brilliant tool

Savman

Premier League is far more topsy turvy this year, think the balance of power has shifted...to where, is not yet clear. Seems like Everton, Man City, Spurs and maybe Pompey have lost their grip on Top 6.

Not sure a comparison to last year is really gonna tell us anything beneficial tbh.

Villain

Well I think the only comparison is we have got fewer points this year and we are 2 positions higher, i.e. I don't think we have improved really I just think 2 of the big 4 have got worse but the only thing is I think we have a better squad this year to try and maintain our position and could yet improve in January

Tomthepost

We are 5 games from the half way point and have already played what used to be called the top 4 so despite having less points now we are potentially in a better place to have more points at the half way stage of season.

Helix

Villain wrote: »

Well I think the only comparison is we have got fewer points this year and we are 2 positions higher, i.e. I don't think we have improved really I just think 2 of the big 4 have got worse but the only thing is I think we have a better squad this year to try and maintain our position and could yet improve in January

we're 7 points better off than we were last season from the same fixtures we've played so far, thats a good improvement

One Cold Hand

Helix wrote: »

official site

click on match > fixtures & results > first team

then set the season to last season, then click on TB beside any fixture you chose, and itll show you how the table stood after that game

brilliant tool

Helix wrote: »

we're 7 points better off than we were last season from the same fixtures we've played so far, thats a good improvement

I'm not trying to be a pedantic focker, but this thread on Villatalk says we're 8 points better off (7...8...it's all good either way!).
I'm only point this out as I wanted to link to this thread, it's also very good for comparisons to last year.

Eirebear

invincibleirish wrote: »

What makes me curious though is what happened exactly? IIRC he put in some decent performances towards the back end of last season but his consistency, energy and drive this season has surpassed anything he has done in his previous 2 years. Has MON whispered something in his ear? is he just playing for a new contract? either way long may it continue.

I think it is more a case of Martin O'Neil having something that is a rare thing among managers in the premiership these days.
Faith in his players.

All too often people are quick to write off a player if he doesnt hit the ground running, and players like Petrov being confidence plaers tend to suffer from this.

Whatever you think about the SPL, Petrov 90% of the time was a star player for Celtic and was always a talent to watch.

You have to remember though that he came from a team who were expected to win every single game they played in, and spent a huge majority of every game in possesion, to a team who while have a weight of expectation are not under the same pressure in every single minute of every single game.
The change is massive.

Petrov is a fantastic passer of the ball and control a game given the chance, but he has had to adapt his game in order to make sure that he gets those chances rather than being handed them on a plate like he often was in Scotland.

I'm glad he is starting to pick up his form now, its always nice to see players go from Scotland to the "Best league in the world" and prove the doubters wrong.

On that note, hows Cuellar getting on....has he managed to break into the team yet?

One Cold Hand

Hmmm, our results against the top 4 have actually been quite good. 1 win, 1 loss, 2 draws.
It's the losses against the like Stoke and Boro that we need to stop. The other thing to remember is that we've had 8 games in Europe that we didn't have last season. It's going to take us a while to learn to cope with these extra games.
I suppose the debate now is whether a prolonged UEFA Cup run would be worth it, or it will stunt our attempts to crack the top 4? (good debate to be having in a way!)

One Cold Hand

Yes delighted to see Stan doing well, long may it continue.

Eirebear wrote: »

On that note, hows Cuellar getting on....has he managed to break into the team yet?

Yes Cuellar is doing quite well. He hasn't really nailed down a regular first team spot, but he has appeared quite regularly and has done very well when he has. I think he'll be brilliant for us if he can become a regular starter in central defence. The question is, who makes way for him? Davies and Laursen have been equally impressive. I suppose this shows the benefit of competition for places, the same way Petrov has come on leaps and bounds.

What we really need now is a good striker, to shake things up a bit in attack.

Helix

cuellar looks like hes our new right back, with young at left back and davies and laursen in the center

looked solid whenever we've played that so far, and i think we'll stick with it when cuellar is fit and shorey is still finding his feet

Bounty Hunter

Aston Villa vs Fulham (Villa Park)

This is for me a very important match as Villa have a habit of messing up just when they have a chance to take advantage of the good situations they have got themselves in to make the next step.

I dont think anyone would argue that Villa are more than capable of winning against fulham and after getting results against Man Utd and Arsenal (who go to Chelsea at the same time) that this is a real chance to cement our current top 4 position. Hell with the Manchester derby going on also we could even go 3rd with a win here but i expect Utd to get back on track next week.

However Fulham should not be underestimated IMO especially not with them having already taken 4pts frpmm Arsenal and Liverpool this season. As said before Roy Hodgson is a quality manager and IMO will be the reason Fulham wont be relegated this season, but thankfully they may not be looking to prove a point/bounce back when they face us seing as they just got a result against Liverpool

If Villa play well again I would predict a 2-0 win with both Gabby and 2nd half sub Carew bagging goals for the good guys, but i expect the game itself to be tigthter than that scoreline suggests.

Helix

yeah i agree, i think itll be exceptionally tough

Bounty Hunter

John Carew has announced he would like to end his career at Villa, and that he's not thinking of moving anywhere else.

Carew hasn't even hit two years at the club yet, but he's notched up 54 appearances with a return of 21 goals.

His goal tally is better than it's been at any other club in his career, infact the second best was 20 goals in 84 appearances for Valencia.

Speaking on the official site, he said:

'I'm very happy here. I'm proud to be part of the club because there's great ambition and I'm sure we have a great future.

'That's why I signed a new contract. I love the club. I love the fans and we have a great group of players.

'Football in this country suits me very well. It's a very quick game, which I really like. I think I've found the right football country.

'I would like to finish my career here. I'm not thinking of going anywhere else.'

On the topic of his goal return, a ratio of a goal basically every two and a half games, he added:

'I don't keep a note of the goals I score. I know some strikers do, but it's something I've never done.

'I don't set targets either. All that matters to me is to keep improving as a player - the rest should come automatically.'

With Gabby's improvement this season, and growth as a lone striker it has given us more options. Plenty were talking about the Man U game and how we seemed to defend as a 4-5-1 yet on attack Young and Milner stepped up and we countered like a 4-3-3 which does give us options when Carew is having an off day.

With him being so happy at the club, hopefully we'll see a bit more consistency from him and see John Carew at his defence destroying best more often.

.........................

elsewhere in todays papers

Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill has told John Carew he is no longer an automatic first-choice pick as a striker. (Various)

shoutman

Lucas Podolski anyone?
He wants out of his current club but his former club have first option on him I think.....

invincibleirish

Podolski? nah Man City and Spurs will offer either silly money and/or the London lifestyle, dont get me wrong it'd be great if he signed but i would imagine whoever MON identifies to buy in January will probably come from left field.Or Reading.

As for Fulham, Villa should pick up 3 points but as mentioned by Savman the PL is a strange beast this season with all teams dropping points. I can see MON going 442 for this i just hope this game isnt a crash and burn ala Boro after the highs of the past 2 weeks.

Bounty Hunter

woo boards is suddenly working for me at home now... sweet.

Cant see Podolski myself and agree that someone like City or Spurs going for him wouldent be a surprise although he is the standard we should be looking at IMO.

Per Ciljan Skjelbred has also been apparently linked to Villa recently too, id be happy if we signed him as before his injury he was very very highly rated but again i dont expect it partially due to him being a CM/AM and we will surely be looking to bolster upfront and maybe recruiting a backup RB first.

wynters

More good news...!

Villa get Barry boost

Midfielder rules out move in January

Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill has confirmed Gareth Barry has pledged to stay at the club for the rest of the season.

O'Neill revealed he has held talks with Barry over his short-term future after Liverpool made four unsuccessful bids for his services last summer.

Fresh reports have suggested Barry could be a target for a number of clubs when the transfer window reopens in January, but the England international has moved to quell the speculation by ruling out a move in the New Year.

O'Neill admitted it was a major boost to keep Barry at Villa Park for the immediate future.

"This news will lift me, the players and hopefully, the player himself. It increases our determination to keep going and shows we are pushing in the right direction," said O'Neill.

"This is what Gareth wants to do. It is very, very pleasing and I am delighted. We will sit down again in the summer, have a chat and see what progress we are making.

"He has given the football club fantastic service and wants to put the trauma of the summer behind him.

"His game is top-notch at the moment and he is playing very well. He wants to leave all the speculation behind him and get on with his game."

Helix

carew out for 3 weeks

Bounty Hunter

just got a FF email that said this
....
The Omen

Fulham visit Villa Park on Saturday without an away win so far this season and having scored only twice away from Craven Cottage. That, and the fact that the Cottagers have not won at Villa Park in the league since 1973, explains why Andrew Johnson, Bobby Zamora and David Healy should all be rotated out of your starting 11 right now.
...

If Carew is out i guess we are sticking with the thus far successful 4-5-1/4-3-3 then

DarenO

I can't see us being beaten, however years of supporting Villa has made me pessimistic so i just hope that we don't miss an opportunity to put the pressure on Arsenal and to a lesser extent Man U tomorrow.

Don't want to get to carried away so early in the season but isn't it wonderful to be back to where we were in the early/mid nineties and the late seventies/early eighties and this time around we have a chairman willing to invest in our progress rather than stagnating and slipping backwards.

Darren

JPA

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

Fulham: Schwarzer; Konchesky, Pantsil, Hangeland, Hughes; Murphy, Bullard, Dempsey, Davies; Johnson, Zamora. Subs: Nevland, Gera, Gray, Etuhu, Stoor, Kallio, Zuberbuehler.


I just hope for any kind of win today.

invincibleirish

Go Villa! 3-0 my prediction, hopefully an impressive reassured performance reminding the whole of the PL that Villa have teams like Fulham for breakfast, and that pressure is put on Arsenal as Villa go 3 clear.


If not that then probably 0-0, but that Fulham backline looks pants.

JPA

invincibleirish wrote: »

Go Villa! 3-0 my prediction, hopefully an impressive reassured performance reminding the whole of the PL that Villa have teams like Fulham for breakfast, and that pressure is put on Arsenal as Villa go 3 clear.


If not that then probably 0-0, but that Fulham backline looks pants.

4 clear actually.