Aston Villa Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

Helix

when freddie is back we'll have him first choice left back, shorey as cover, and young first choice rb with cuellar as cover if needed (he had a stinker last night, but hes gonna go on to be a villa hero imo)

for wingers we defo need one, and have been linked with mcgeady and nzogbia. obv id rather nzogbia based on the pretty diabolical record of spl players in england tho

rgiller

fullstop wrote: »

It's easy to spout sh!te about someone sitting in front of a computer screen.

Then stop doing it. Your personal attack on me for my opinions on a footballer are pretty pointless and don't really help you get your point across

Tomthepost

Helix wrote: »

when freddie is back we'll have him first choice left back, shorey as cover, and young first choice rb with cuellar as cover if needed (he had a stinker last night, but hes gonna go on to be a villa hero imo)

for wingers we defo need one, and have been linked with mcgeady and nzogbia. obv id rather nzogbia based on the pretty diabolical record of spl players in england tho

Would rather take a chance on McGeady then nzombia who is only leaving newcastle cause he is not good enough.
Personally I would love to get Dean Ashton and Geovanni

fullstop

rgiller wrote: »

Then stop doing it. Your personal attack on me for my opinions on a footballer are pretty pointless and don't really help you get your point across

:rolleyes: bravo

Tomthepost

Portsmouth defender Lauren reckons England internationals Jermain Defoe and Glen Johnson could follow Real Madrid-bound Lassana Diarra out of Fratton Park and rejoin former manager Harry Redknapp at Tottenham in January.


Johnson would be a fantastic signing for Villa.

Bounty Hunter

Tomthepost wrote: »

Portsmouth defender Lauren reckons England internationals Jermain Defoe and Glen Johnson could follow Real Madrid-bound Lassana Diarra out of Fratton Park and rejoin former manager Harry Redknapp at Tottenham in January.


Johnson would be a fantastic signing for Villa.

Dont think Luke Young would like that all too much though and he has been consistant even when at LB. Johnson woulda been a great signing when Portsmouth signed him, but i dont see it now. I had expected someone like Stearman (i think) from Lecister who instead joined Wolves, a young RB with potential to replace the current one eventually.

Villain

Tomthepost wrote: »

Johnson would be a fantastic signing for Villa.

Oh PLEASE god no, I absolutely hate him as a player, granted he can attack but I wouldn't rate his defending at all.

Samurai

I'd take jermain!

Savman

Tomthepost wrote: »

Personally I would love to get Dean Ashton and Geovanni

One's an injury crock, the other left Man City for Hull. Hardly cream of the crop.

Tomthepost wrote:

Johnson would be a fantastic signing for Villa.

Er, right. I think we have a huge difference in opinion as to what constitutes "fantastic".

Raekwon

Terrible result for Villa last night but something tells me that MON knew exactly what he was doing fielding that weakened team. Coming third in the group means that Villa will avoid teams that are coming in from the Champions League (second place teams play them) and we are not allowed to play against Man City because they are from the same association as us so basically we will be drawn tomorrow against one of the teams below:

Metalist Kharkiv (UKR)
Standard Liège (BEL)
Udinese (ITA)
VfL Wolfsburg (GER)
Saint-Etienne (FRA)
CSKA Moskow (RUS)

The second placed teams look tougher IMO:

FC Twente (NED)
Galatasaray (TUR)
VfB Stuttgart (GER)
Tottenham Hotspur (ENG)
AC Milan (ITA)
Ajax (NED)
Valencia (ESP)
Deportivo La Coruña (ESP)

Plus I'm happy to see the back of these teams that were eliminated:

Club Brugge
Benfica
Seville
Spartak Moscow

Draw conditions
The Round of 32 draw will be made under the following conditions:
• Clubs from the same association must not be drawn against each other.
• The group-winners of a given group must be drawn against one of the third-ranked teams from another group.
• The runners-up of a given group must be drawn against one of the eight clubs joining the competition from the group stage of the UEFA Champions League.
• The group-winners and group runners-up shall play the return-leg match at home

spiderdan

Looks like MON had a fair idea, finishing 3rd did no harm at all, wouldn't fear any of those teams, no team in the competition we should fear, maybe like to avoid but certainly not fear. Opinions on Nzogbia as a LB? strange on that- if he's not good enough for Newcastle how can he be for Villa.

Helix

spiderdan wrote: »

if he's not good enough for Newcastle how can he be for Villa.

thats not how it works tho

JPA

spiderdan wrote: »

Looks like MON had a fair idea, finishing 3rd did no harm at all, wouldn't fear any of those teams, no team in the competition we should fear, maybe like to avoid but certainly not fear. Opinions on Nzogbia as a LB? strange on that- if he's not good enough for Newcastle how can he be for Villa.

He's not a left back though. He'd most likely be backup for A. Young, as we have no cover for him.

Helix

**** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** ****

we got CSKA

JPA

We can beat them but the distance and the cold are the killers.

invincibleirish

Not end of world, their domestic season is just over, CM hero Love is apparently on his way and the 2nd leg is in Moscow, if one team can get a result away its Villa.

But MON will have to play his best team if he wants to win this one, who knows where Villa will be by the time the tie rolls around, but if riding high in the PL will a trip to Moscow with a full strength squad be worth a potential negative impact on PL campaign? werent Boro and Newcastle directly after Prague & LL?.

JPA

Win and we play Spurs or Shaktar!

V1llianous

JPA wrote: »

Win and we play Spurs or Shaktar!

And if it's spurs we play them 3 times in a week:

12th March Villa Park - League game
14th March Villa Park - UEFA
18/19th March WHL - UEFA

Guess Harry must be looking forward to a reunion with the Villa fans

spiderdan

JPA wrote: »

He's not a left back though. He'd most likely be backup for A. Young, as we have no cover for him.

That's what I was thinking, SSN reported O'Neill having an interest in him at LB and as cover for A. Young- mightn't be a bad option on the cheap- from memory he has played at LB for Newcastle on a few occasions.

As for CSKA- pretty much the worst draw possible, I'm pretty confident of a result, with our away form and counter attacking style we'll cause them plenty of probs. I wouldn't be so sure Spurs will go through either.

Raekwon

Villa are shagged

CSKA were the toughest team to draw by a stretch and even if we beat them then we could be traveling back East to the Ukraine to play against money bags Shakhtar Donetsk. No wonder our odds got slashed from 7/1 to 14/1.

shoutman

Lads we are going to have to beat them eventually, lets just get the tough teams out of the way at the start

Seriously though we should have the beatings of all three of our would be opponents

Bounty Hunter

I dont think any of the teams Villa might play in the next 2 rounds are better than them, and I am still confident of us going through. Although there are places that I would rather see the team travel to than the Lezhnikhi stadium in Russia and its plastic pitch. Especially considering a difficult far away match midweek doesent help us not slip up in the premiership game after it (thankfully we have the home leg before we play Chelsea at homa).

Average-Ro

http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/55/main/2008/10/01/891259/friedel-calls-us-youth-development-system-broken

Sorry if this has been posted before. It's an article on Brad Friedel setting up a youth acadamy in the US. Comes across as a very nice guy with a good head on his shoulders.

And just from reading that article; youth players have to PAY to play for teams in America? WTF??

Helix

Average-Ro wrote: »

And just from reading that article; youth players have to PAY to play for teams in America? WTF??

same as most youth teams in the world so

Average-Ro

Has that always been the case so? I find it kinda strange that youth players have to pay to play...

JPA

Average-Ro wrote: »

Has that always been the case so? I find it kinda strange that youth players have to pay to play...

Were you ever on a team?

invincibleirish

No point in playing the prediction game for West Ham, if we're thinking top 4 then these are the places where defeat isn't an option. This Villa team have the quality to take at least a point from this game and hopefully all 3 to strengthen our grip on 4th as we await boxing day.

Having said that WHU to win 2-0:pac:.

jesus_thats_gre

Is the Villa match being streamed from anywhere?

mike65

Tis on Setanta Ireland if you have that.

Tomthepost

im going to be cocky. 3-1 villa.

Average-Ro

JPA wrote: »

Were you ever on a team?

Yes, I was. I apologise if I seem very ignorant, but I thought there would be a difference between my local team out in the countryside to a professional team. Apparently there isn't when it comes to youth teams, and I know that now.

At least I'm only making a fool of myself on the internet and not to anyones face...

jesus_thats_gre

mike65 wrote: »

Tis on Setanta Ireland if you have that.

Cheers!! Have Sky and Setanta but am unfortunate enough to be in work for the afternoon

invincibleirish

http://watchtheheat.blogspot.com/

Tomthepost

Really good game so far. Bellamy looks real sharp and that young chap Collison is giving Milner a bit of a pasting. Still confident enough. Some lovely touchs from Petrov.

Helix

jimmys still getting over a pretty bad dose of the flu, so hes looking a fair bit off the pace. id expect we'll see him coming off before the end

Samurai

Lets hope they don't attack down the left wing!

jesus_thats_gre

1910: GOAL West Ham 0-1 Aston Villa
How cruel is football? James Milner collects the ball on the left and jinks into the box, he attempts to cross to the far post but it takes a big deflection off Lucas Neill and drops into the far corner. The winger is almost too embarrassed to celebrate.

Tomthepost

no more finger nails left

mike65

At least it came off Neill! :pac:

JPA

It wasn't pretty but that's how it goes. Delighted.

Villain

Great result poxy but that's the luck you need to stay in top 4. MON is really doing well.

JPA

4 points off Liverpool, 3 points off Chelsea.
I'm not saying we will catch them by any means but it just show how well we are doing.

jesus_thats_gre

JPA wrote: »

4 points off Liverpool, 3 points off Chelsea.
I'm not saying we will catch them by any means but it just show how well we are doing.

If you are a Villa fan, there are many things to be positive about. While finishing 4th would obviously be massive for the club, I am inclined to think that they would be better served spending another season competing in the UEFA Cup. There is no doubt in my mind that some of you will see that as being condescending but the UEFA Cup is an extremely good place to build up European experience. The CL is also a massive step up and while the improved cash flow would obviously be welcome, it could prove to be a curse if the squad isn't ready for it.

I still credit a large degree of Liverpool's recent successes in Europe to the UEFA cup runs a few years before.

JPA

jesus_thats_gre wrote: »

If you are a Villa fan, there are many things to be positive about. While finishing 4th would obviously be massive for the club, I am inclined to think that they would be better served spending another season competing in the UEFA Cup. There is no doubt in my mind that some of you will see that as being condescending but the UEFA Cup is an extremely good place to build up European experience. The CL is also a massive step up and while the improved cash flow would obviously be welcome, it could prove to be a curse if the squad isn't ready for it.

I still credit a large degree of Liverpool's recent successes in Europe to the UEFA cup runs a few years before.

I know what you're saying but nobody wants to wait.
MON knows we're not Champions League quality and most fans do but it's not like he can hold them back.
We have the money to build a bigger and better squad and at this stage coming outside of 4th would disappoint a lot of us.

Helix

it means we have to go all out to bring in champions league quality players next month now anyway

invincibleirish

JPA wrote: »

It wasn't pretty but that's how it goes. Delighted.

I echo these sentiments. Also i hope CCs injury is nothing serious.

All i want for Xmas is 3 points off Arsenal, what a game its going to be.

Helix wrote: »

it means we have to go all out to bring in champions league quality players next month now anyway

Doyle it is so:P

I'm not sure what to expect from January window really, remember the disappointment that was last January.

Helix

hopefully arsenal can do liverpool tomorrow, if they lose i cant see them losing to us as well

jesus_thats_gre

JPA wrote: »

I know what you're saying but nobody wants to wait.
MON knows we're not Champions League quality and most fans do but it's not like he can hold them back.
We have the money to build a bigger and better squad and at this stage coming outside of 4th would disappoint a lot of us.

Don't get me wrong.. Finishing 4th should be aimed for but finishing 5th may end up being better for the club in the short to medium term. Saying that, 4 out of 5 seasons, the big 4 will probably remain the big 4 so you might as well take advantage of things when the opportunity arises.

I am obvously looking back to Everton's season in the CL and the impact it had on them.

JPA

jesus_thats_gre wrote: »

Don't get me wrong.. Finishing 4th should be aimed for but finishing 5th may end up being better for the club in the short to medium term. Saying that, 4 out of 5 seasons, the big 4 will probably remain the big 4 so you might as well take advantage of things when the opportunity arises.

I am obvously looking back to Everton's season in the CL and the impact it had on them.

Slipping into condescension there I'm afraid.

Everton are incomparable to Villa as they had and have no backing. The "top 4" isn't set in stone so anything can happen.

Helix

jesus_thats_gre wrote: »

Don't get me wrong.. Finishing 4th should be aimed for but finishing 5th may end up being better for the club in the short to medium term.

id have agreed with that up until the city takeover

now i think this is our only chance to do it before city destroy the english game. if we have champions league football next year, we'll be able to compete for top class players, and so will arsenal even if they finish 5th, on the basis of their reputation alone

5 teams competing with citys money is far preferable to just 4 imo