Aston Villa Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

Helix

id like something apart from pace to burn to be honest, a bit of guile wouldnt go astray rather than us being 1 dimensional

was on a blackburn forum that santa cruz said last month to a fan after a paraguay friendly against oman that he'd be off to villa or city in jan, he just hadnt decided which

leninbenjamin

Anyone notice this in the BBC gossip column today?

Real Madrid are preparing a £25m bid for Aston Villa's England winger Ashley Young. (Daily Star)

Boggles

In the 4-4 with Spurs last season Young was unbelievable, it might have stuck in the brain of Ramos.

I can see the story having some truth, I can also see O'Neill giving birth to kittens over it.

Savman

One Cold Hand wrote: »

Completely hypothetical debate:

Straight swap: Robbie Keane for Gareth Barry...would you take it?

No.

shoutman

Not a hope swapping Keane for Barry, also wouldn't be 18million for Keane. As for Young leaving for €25mil, I think it will never happen because a) Villa don't need the money b) I don't think Young would be so naaive to think he'd be playing every match for them and he wouldn't want to be rotting away on the bench and c) MON will realise we will not attract a winger who has the capabilities of Young.

invincibleirish

Said it before but McGeady might not be a bad buy, have Milner already i know but having Mcgeady competing for a place on the RW can only benefit Villa. Scare teams ****less as well with the pace, even more so then now:p

wynters

Re: Robbie Keane for Gareth Barry...would you take it?

Not a fckng chance!!!!!!!! Robbie Keane is a joke of a striker. P/ssed myself laughing when Liverpool spent £20m+ on him. There's dozens of other, far more dangerous strikers around they could have got for that money. He's fckng terrible! I've watched him at Ireland matches for donkeys years, and I simply cannot name a more frustrating player to watch.

Regardless of what other people might think of him personally, Barry is developing into one of the most intelligent & composed midfield players in Europe. Villa have attacking pace to burn, but it's Barry's calming sensiblilities that compliment that and makes everything tick.

Keane and Barry are the most overrated and underrated players in the PL respectively.

I wouldn't want Keane anywhere near the current Villa side!

rgiller

One Cold Hand wrote: »

Completely hypothetical debate:

Straight swap: Robbie Keane for Gareth Barry...would you take it?

Ridiculous question: Keane is poisin - can't score to save his life. He's not quick, not tall and to top it off he's an idiot. I wouldn't take him in a straight swap with one of the reserves

invincibleirish

Robbie Keane could have been a Villa legend by now if Deadly didnt try and mess Coventry around with transfer negotiations.

He would have went nicely with Juninho in that Vintage 99 team.


*cries*

Tomthepost

Something MON might at least consider would be a straight swap of Keane for Harewood or Keane for Knight:D

shoutman

I want to start a save the Hare campaign, I really fear that if he is sold in January it will signal the end of the rise of Villa.

Marlon Balou The Hare Harewood is Aston Villa IMO, and therefore without him we are nothing.

Save the Hare!

JPA

Squad for Hamburg:

Brad Friedel
Luke Young
Steve Sidwell
Marlon Harewood
Stuart Taylor
Nathan Delfouneso
Curtis Davies
Zat Knight
Moustapha Salifou
Stiliyan Petrov
Nigel Reo-Coker
Nicky Shorey
Brad Guzan
Carlos Cuellar
Craig Gardner
Barry Bannan
Shane Lowry
Chris Herd
Ciaran Clark
Zoltan Stieber

Hopefully Hamburg rest a few as well or else....

shoutman

Fantastic news that Gabby and Ashley and a few others get a well earned rest, it is a nothing match imo and even if we get hammered it wont affect the first teamers for the next league match.

Helix

id love to see bannan get a bit of the game

Bounty Hunter

JPA wrote: »

Squad for Hamburg:



Hopefully Hamburg rest a few as well or else....

this could end badly as its Hamburgs last game before their christmass break (1 month) and they have therefore no reason to rest anyone.

Still intregued to see how the Fonz and co do against quality opposition.

One Cold Hand

rgiller wrote: »

Ridiculous question: Keane is poisin - can't score to save his life. He's not quick, not tall and to top it off he's an idiot. I wouldn't take him in a straight swap with one of the reserves

It's not really that ridiculous. Robbie has scored over 100 premier league goals in his career. Not many players have done that. We need a player who can bang in 15/20 goals a season. With Robbie you will get that (if he's played week in week out). Also we have pace to burn in the team, we don't need more pace. We need someone with some intelligence.

Apart from the debate as to how good or not Robbie is, we're pretty light in the striker department, and pretty strong in the CM area, which was my main reason for posing the question.

shoutman

Surely Owen is a better option then Keane though.

One Cold Hand

I dunno. Owen is always injured. (I know he hasn't been for the last few weeks, but how long will that last?).
When fully fit then, yeah, Owen probably is better. But I reckon he's lost a good bit of the pace he used to have.

rgiller

shoutman wrote: »

Surely Owen is a better option then Keane though.

What's the obsession with the ex Liverpool strikers (Heskey too)? In my opinion, neither of these players would be worth getting: both are past their best. Keane is not a 15-20 goals a season man as his Liverpool stats confirm (and I wouldn't want to play him every game as this would rule out one of Gabby, Carew) and Owen can't stay fit long enough to get a string of games under his belt. Let them both underperform for their current clubs and give us a better chance at beating these teams.

Helix

rgiller wrote: »

Keane is not a 15-20 goals a season man as his Liverpool stats confirm

what about the previous however many seasons where he scored 15-20 goals?

matrim

I don't know much about these players in the squad

Barry Bannan
Shane Lowry
Chris Herd
Ciaran Clark
Zoltan Stieber

But I've heard good things about Zoltan Stieber, so it would be nice to see him play. And see some of the other youngsters get a run.

fullstop

rgiller wrote: »

What's the obsession with the ex Liverpool strikers (Heskey too)? In my opinion, neither of these players would be worth getting: both are past their best. Keane is not a 15-20 goals a season man as his Liverpool stats confirm

He hasn't even been at Liverpool a season so what the **** would you know? Some of your ramblings on him really are idiotic. How many premier league players have scored over 100 goals? And you talk about Keane being sh!t :rolleyes:
If he can't score to save his life how the hell would he have over 100 PL goals AND be his country's all time top scorer?

Savman

Who cares. We've done what we need to do, making this a nothing fixture.

Helix

matrim wrote: »

I don't know much about these players in the squad

Barry Bannan
Shane Lowry
Chris Herd
Ciaran Clark
Zoltan Stieber

But I've heard good things about Zoltan Stieber, so it would be nice to see him play. And see some of the other youngsters get a run.

bannan is pure quality, but a bit lightweight unless hes bulked up since i last saw him. ive never seen a match report where he wasnt praised a shedload. hes definitely gonna be one for the future, along with harry forrester who isnt in the squad

stieber has been bubbling away for a while so id love to get a look at him tonight

surprised theres no room for nathan baker, hes looked very very good any time ive seen him. big and strong full back

Tomthepost

Lets guess the line up tonight I reckon

1: Brad Guzan (GK)
2: Luke Young (RB)
3: Nicky Shorey (LB)
4: Zat Knight (CB)
5: Carlos Cuellar (CB)
6: Craig Gardner (RM)
7: Nigel Reo-Coker (CM)
8: Steve Sidwell (CM)
9: Stiliyan Petrov (LM)
10: Marlon Harewood (S)
11: Nathan Delfouneso (S)

Helix

jesus a midfield with gardner, petrov and nrc in it would play some of the most horribly uncreative footie of all time lol

i fancy stieber to get a start on the left

i feels it in me waters

either that or we'll do shorey left midfield, young left back and cuellar/gardener right back

Tomthepost

Helix wrote: »

jesus a midfield with gardner, petrov and nrc in it would play some of the most horribly uncreative footie of all time lol

i fancy stieber to get a start on the left

i feels it in me waters

either that or we'll do shorey left midfield, young left back and cuellar/gardener right back

Id say no way MON will start Stieber to be honest and I reckon an uncreative but solid is exactly what MON will want from his midfield. Personally would love to see Stieber and some of the other young lads get a start.
By the way O'Halloran's career looks f-ucked. Done the knee in again at Swansea and is out for the rest of the season.

matrim

It's possible that we could play 3 in the center of midfield, with harewood as the frontman and Delfouneso and someone else (maybe Steiber) as the 2 wingers, that get forward to support the striker

Bounty Hunter

remember hearing that steiber got a hattrick playing LWB for the youths or reserves in the past year, always likened to Patrick berger but with more of an eye for goal too but id only expect him from the bench.

id actually go along with TomThePost's starting line up to be what MON will play even though I wouldent mind Luke Young also getting a rest.

but would like to see Steiber and Bannan (who has hopefully bulked up cos he has reportidly got the talent) on at some point.

Mad to think that The Fonz, Steiber, Bannan etc could be getting a run out against Hamburgs first XI, great experience.

Helix

i dunno, i defo reckon we'll see a new face starting in the middle

rgiller

fullstop wrote: »

He hasn't even been at Liverpool a season so what the **** would you know? Some of your ramblings on him really are idiotic. How many premier league players have scored over 100 goals? And you talk about Keane being sh!t :rolleyes:
If he can't score to save his life how the hell would he have over 100 PL goals AND be his country's all time top scorer?

Steady on there mate: your blind, patriotic love of Robbie Keane will have you eating your words when he's shipped off for half of what they paid for him within the next year. He's been sh!t since he joined Liverpool, to such an extent that even all the talk of him contributing to the team's performance (despite not scoring) has gone away and all that's left are his miserable efforts at being a striker.

I've never rated him as a player, 100 goals or no 100 goals, and I'm certainly not going to start now that Dirk Kuyt is keeping him out of the team. We shouldn't even be entertaining the thought of him joining Villa: we can do so much better

fullstop

rgiller wrote: »

Steady on there mate: your blind, patriotic love of Robbie Keane will have you eating your words when he's shipped off for half of what they paid for him within the next year. He's been sh!t since he joined Liverpool, to such an extent that even all the talk of him contributing to the team's performance (despite not scoring) has gone away and all that's left are his miserable efforts at being a striker.

I've never rated him as a player, 100 goals or no 100 goals, and I'm certainly not going to start now that Dirk Kuyt is keeping him out of the team. We shouldn't even be entertaining the thought of him joining Villa: we can do so much better

I have no love for Robbie Keane, patriotic or not 'mate'. In fact, I don't really like the chap. But I fail to see how anyone can describ him as "poison" :rolleyes: Much as I don't like him he's still a great player. It's easy to spout sh!te about someone sitting in front of a computer screen.

Bounty Hunter

Line Up:

Guzan

L.Young Knight Cuellar Shorey

ReoCoker Salifou Sidwell Gardner

Delfouneso Harewood

Subs : Friedel, Davies, Petrov, Bannan, Clark, Herd, Lowry.

Samurai

Well this is going well!

Bounty Hunter

theres a uefa cup thread... Barry Bannan on now

JPA

So, we could get Wolfsburg, St. Etienne or CSKA Moscow in the draw with the other groups to be decided tomorrow.

Helix

st etienne please

One Cold Hand

rgiller wrote: »

What's the obsession with the ex Liverpool strikers (Heskey too)? In my opinion, neither of these players would be worth getting: both are past their best. Keane is not a 15-20 goals a season man as his Liverpool stats confirm (and I wouldn't want to play him every game as this would rule out one of Gabby, Carew) and Owen can't stay fit long enough to get a string of games under his belt. Let them both underperform for their current clubs and give us a better chance at beating these teams.

So who wold you propose that we do buy, that we could realistically get? We can't just go out and buy someone of the quality of Torres or Adebayor. The next step down from them is someone of Keane or Owen's quality.

Also I see Owen was told he'd have to drop his wages from 105,000 to 80,000.:eek: Can't believe he was on that much! I reckon he'd have to drop even more if he was to join Villa.

Tomthepost

Salifou got the start ahead of petrov(big mistake) but 10 out of 11 not bad i guess!
Performance
Guzan 5.5
Friedel still has some mentoring to do. Didnt inspire confidence
L Young 6
Got criticised on Setanta a bit especially in relation to first goal which I thought was a bit unfair. So far this season our most consistent summer signing.
N Shorey 4.5
Another poor performance. Done nothing positive and his distribution from set plays was appalling. Struggling to fit in at Villa
C Cuellar 5
A poor performance against what must be said a couple of tricky strikers
Z Knight 4
Zat is a born and rared villa fan but after that its hard to defend someone that struggles to defend. A lack of regular gaCme time is affecting his timing...
(Im struggling here)
C Gardner 5
Not a very good display. Will struggle to make a decent career at Villa as technically he is not good enough. Comes accross as the type of player that would be great in a relagation battle
M Salifou 5
Actually thought he dont ok tonight but is no better then an average plus championship player
S Sidwell 2.5
Loses 1 for getting sent off but was appalling up to that point. Should have taken a senior role tonight. Very disappointing
N Reo-Coker 7
Awful first touch, cant shoot and poor distribution of the ball but easily Villa's best player tonight
The Fonz 6.5
Only 17 and showed one or two good touches. Lets not be negative on one so young! Might have known a bit more then he was given credit for with the goal.
M Harewood 4.5
Straying offside all night and looks like he has given up the fight on a career at Villa. Still think a focused Harewood is worth retaining but it looks like he will go in Jan

MON's first 11 based on seasonso far.
Friedel
L Young
Laursen
Davies
Bouma
Milner
Barry
Petrov
Young
Gabby
Carew

JPA

Tomthepost wrote: »

MON's first 11 based on seasonso far.
Friedel
L Young
Laursen
Davies
Bouma
Milner
Barry
Petrov
Young
Gabby
Carew

Bouma must have really impressed you in his one and a half games!

Tomthepost

JPA wrote: »

Bouma must have really impressed you in his one and a half games!

Please tell me one better performance from one playing at left back so far this season

Helix

luke young has been pretty solid at left back

Bounty Hunter

Tomthepost wrote: »

MON's first 11 based on seasonso far.
Friedel
L Young
Laursen
Davies
Bouma
Milner
Barry
Petrov
Young
Gabby
Carew

plus subs: Guzan, Shorey, Cuellar, NRC, Sidwell

just add a striker to that in January and our fully fit squad is pretty damn good considering years past.

Helix

Tomthepost wrote: »

N Reo-Coker 7
Awful first touch, cant shoot and poor distribution of the ball but easily Villa's best player tonight
The Fonz 6.5
Only 17 and showed one or two good touches. Lets not be negative on one so young! Might have known a bit more then he was given credit for with the goal.

giving nrc 7 and the fonz 6.5 baffles me

nrc was ok, but his usual wasteful self. 5/10 if anything

and the fonz was probably our best player. he gave it everything start to finish, and was only let down by taking a touch too many a couple of times. 7.5/10 for me. the sooner he gets premiership playing time the better

Helix

Bounty Hunter wrote: »

plus subs: Guzan, Shorey, Cuellar, NRC, Sidwell

just add a striker to that in January and our fully fit squad is pretty damn good considering years past.

i think the few times we've put out the fringe players has shown us that we're still nowhere near the standard we're aiming for in terms of
strength in depth tho

Bounty Hunter

The Fonz will be Villa's 4th choice striker after january not The Hare IMO

Bounty Hunter

Helix wrote: »

i think the few times we've put out the fringe players has shown us that we're still nowhere near the standard we're aiming for in terms of
strength in depth tho

well im just saying that if we as suspected add a striker in January and maybe a backup RB (suppose Cuellar can cover) we will have two players in every position that i consider atleast premiership standard. That will be our first team squad and imo its the best Villa squad for a while. However given a few injuries and we have to rely on people llike Knight or Gardner atm and obviously that needs to change as we continue to evolve

Helix

gardner will be a good player for us, you have to remember hes still only 22

Bounty Hunter

yep hes just not ready yet, salifou and the Hare though will never be ready imo

One Cold Hand

In terms of the squad, I see it like this:
The following players are good enough for the first team:

Friedel
L. Young
Cuellar
Laursen
Davies
Bouma
Barry
NRC
Sidders
Petrov
Jambo
Ashley
Gabby
Carew

The following young and improving and will get there:
Guzan
Gardner
Fonzy

The following are debateable:
Shorey
Salifou

The following definately are not:
Knight
Harewood
Osbourne
Routledge

I'm sure there's 1 or 2 others I haven't thought of, and I've out the likes of Bannan and the younger lads.
Obviously we're still a long way off competing with the likes of Utd and Chelsea's squads, considering they have 2 quality players for each position. We only have 14 players that I would definately consider good enough for the first team.
The lack of cover up front is evident, as once Carew got injured, MON changed our formation, instead of bringing in someone else. Also in the wing backs and on the wings our only cover is of pretty poor quality.