Aston Villa Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

Bounty Hunter

Villa vs Everton in the FA Cup

DSB

Much more winnable than Pool to be honest.

Helix

tbh id just rather be knocked out by everton then the red filth lol

Bounty Hunter

have to say Everton look really good atm but we have beaten them alrready this season, its nice to get a bit of a run in the cup for a change too

invincibleirish

Beat Everton at Goodison on way to Wembley in 2000 iirc, omens and all that.

busted flush

We owe ye a beating boys after ye stole 3 points of us and we will use that for extra motivation . the blues for the cup!

Bounty Hunter

busted flush wrote: »

We owe ye a beating boys after ye stole 3 points of us and we will use that for extra motivation . the blues for the cup!

well if that game is anything to go by we will have atleast 2 cracking ties coming up as we play each other in the league too. id would be nice to win the treble (even if that is only 3 wins over Eveton:p:D)

villains77

any websites where you can see the highlights for the villa game v doncaster.

Helix

busted flush wrote: »

We owe ye a beating boys after ye stole 3 points of us and we will use that for extra motivation . the blues for the cup!

we only stole 1 point off yis, you werent going to get the other 2

[/pedant]

eagle eye

Good win for Villa again tonight but thats not really why I'm posting here.

A word of warning, you are the enemy right now until the weekend is over. We are protecting an unbeaten run since the arrival of Big Sam before Christmas. Bring it on.:)

mirwillbeback

Helix wrote: »

tbh id just rather be knocked out by everton then the red filth lol

my sentiments exactly

mirwillbeback

Just thinking actually, if we have our best 11 out and compare it to Liverpools and Arsenal's first eleven, I believe we would have the better team - the player below would be in my team made up of the three - anyone disagree?


Friedel
Laursen
Davies
Petrov
A Young
Agbonlahor

Mitch Connor

mirwillbeback wrote: »

Just thinking actually, if we have our best 11 out and compare it to Liverpools and Arsenal's first eleven, I believe we would have the better team - the player below would be in my team made up of the three - anyone disagree?


Friedel
Laursen
Davies
Petrov
A Young
Agbonlahor

I'd have:

..................Reina

Sagna..Laursen..Carragher..Clichy

.........Mascherano..Fabregas
.....Gerrard.......................Young

..............Torres...van Persie.

Villain

It would seem we are going to enquire how the Arshavin deal went through so late, seems petty to me

Helix

well zenit said at 5.15 that the deal was off

the deal had to be agreed with all parties before 5pm for it to be able to go through

the second fishy thing is the fact that the deal didnt go through until after 4pm the NEXT DAY

thats almost 24 hours after the deadline, after the selling club said the deal was off when the deadline had passed, and with no delays for weather which was the stipulation for extensions

i dont think we're being petty, i think we're simply seeking clarification as to why it was allowed to go through, as opposed to trying to stop it being legit

eagle eye

I think this deserves a thread of its own.

Villain

I don't know if the FA have said it was done, then it was done imo, we are not going to come out of this looking good, just my opinion

matrim

This report seems to play down the villa role in it being raised.

Prem clubs to discuss AA signing

Arsenal's signing of Russian playmaker Andrey Arshavin is set to be discussed at a meeting of Premier League clubs on Thursday.

But Aston Villa insist they will be making no complaint to the Premier League.

Villa's chief operating officer Paul Faulkner will be attending a meeting in London at which the deal between the Gunners and Zenit St Petersburg is expected to be raised.

But Faulkner himself will not be raising the issue at what is a routine quarterly get together of the top-flight clubs.

Villa and Arsenal are locked in a battle for the fourth Champions League spot with Martin O'Neill's side currently holding a five-point advantage.

But the capture of Arshavin will strengthen Arsenal's hand in trying to close the gap in the final third of the campaign.

O'Neill is keeping his cards close to his chest at this stage over the Arshavin transfer - after earlier this week branding the transfer window "a waste of time".

He said: "I would have nothing to say at this minute because Paul Faulkner has told me there is a Premier League meeting on Thursday and I think some points are being raised - although not necessarily by us as Aston Villa.

"I think there is going to be clarification about the transfer window extension. Absolutely. Am I concerned by it? Listen, I'm not."

Villa defender Curtis Davies also played down the significance of the timing of the Arshavin deal.

The former West Brom player said: "The Premier League would not have allowed the Arsenal deal to happen if it wasn't all above board.

"It is a matter of hours. It is not like he signed two months down the line."

Helix

Villain wrote: »

I don't know if the FA have said it was done, then it was done imo, we are not going to come out of this looking good, just my opinion

its not just us questioning it tho

Villain

Wel I think that report is very welcome, the news clip I heard on the radio made it sound like it was just Villa that was raising the matter

matrim

Villain wrote: »

Wel I think that report is very welcome, the news clip I heard on the radio made it sound like it was just Villa that was raising the matter

I can't imagine any of the teams around the top being very happy about it. So I'd say there's a strong chance that they would question it too.

tomred1

The media are using Villa as the team requesting an enquiry to make something more of the story annd increase the rivaly detween the clubs but we're more worried about Chelsea and LoLerpool now.

invincibleirish

For clarity and fairness i'm sure Arsenal won't mind that the deal is investigated until all parties are satisfied. Wouldn't want a Tevez style scenario to develop now would we?

Helix

cska tickets on general sale if anyones looking for one

http://www.avfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10265~1545760,00.html

Neil3030

Mitch Connor wrote: »

I'd have:

..................Reina

Sagna..Laursen..Carragher..Clichy

.........Mascherano..Fabregas
.....Gerrard.......................Young

..............Torres...van Persie.

I'd go with:

..................Friedel

Sagna..Laursen..Carragher..Clichy

.........Mascherano..Fabregas
..Walcott..........................Young
.........................Gerrard
..............Torres.........................

wynters

Neil3030 wrote: »

I'd go with:

..................Friedel

Sagna..Laursen..Carragher..Clichy

.........Mascherano..Fabregas
..Walcott..........................Young
.........................Gerrard
..............Torres.........................

So, choosing only from Pool Arsenal and Villa players for a team of the season so far, you'd have Walcott (who hasn't even played a full 90mins) Fabregas and Torres - 3 players who've probably missed as many games as they've played, in ahead of Agbonlahor, Barry and Milner???

Have you been watching the same league????

Helix

hes not picking a team of the season

hes picking what he thinks is the best team from the top 4

wynters

Na I think he was responding to Mrwillbecks; "Just thinking actually, if we have our best 11 out and compare it to Liverpools and Arsenal's first eleven, I believe we would have the better team - the players below would be in my team made up of the three - anyone disagree?"

... Can't argue with that back 4, but to have 3 'big names' who've hardly played in ahead of 3 Villa players who've practically been been ever-presents is laughable!

Fabregas was muck before he got injured - Euros hangover. Walcott didn't complete a single 90 minutes before his shoulder injury and I think Torres had only scored 3 league goals before his double last week??? Compared to Barry, Milner and Aggy respectively, it's a no-brainer!

One Cold Hand

wynters wrote: »

So, choosing only from Pool Arsenal and Villa players for a team of the season so far, you'd have Walcott (who hasn't even played a full 90mins) Fabregas and Torres - 3 players who've probably missed as many games as they've played, in ahead of Agbonlahor, Barry and Milner???

Have you been watching the same league????

You'd have Gabby in ahead of Torres? Don't be stupid. As Helix says, it's not team of the season. Torres is a far better player.

Neil3030

wynters wrote: »

Na I think he was responding to Mrwillbecks; "Just thinking actually, if we have our best 11 out and compare it to Liverpools and Arsenal's first eleven, I believe we would have the better team - the players below would be in my team made up of the three - anyone disagree?"

... Can't argue with that back 4, but to have 3 'big names' who've hardly played in ahead of 3 Villa players who've practically been been ever-presents is laughable!

Fabregas was muck before he got injured - Euros hangover. Walcott didn't complete a single 90 minutes before his shoulder injury and I think Torres had only scored 3 league goals before his double last week??? Compared to Barry, Milner and Aggy respectively, it's a no-brainer!

I thought I was making it pretty obvious who I was responding to, by virtue of the fact that I actually quoted them... :rolleyes:

L'prof

wynters wrote: »

Fabregas was muck before he got injured - Euros hangover. Walcott didn't complete a single 90 minutes before his shoulder injury and I think Torres had only scored 3 league goals before his double last week??? Compared to Barry, Milner and Aggy respectively, it's a no-brainer!

Fabregas was bad by his own high standards, but muck??? Not a chance! Walcott was playing out of his skin before he got injured too. As for Torres, he's only coming back from injury now, but if all 6 players are fully fit, I don't think Barry, Milner or Agbonlahor would be in that team and up until Fabregas and Walcott got injured this season, they would have been ahead of Barry and Milner and right now Torres would be ahead of Agbonlahor as even though he has been good this season, he's more wasteful than Torres!

Mitch Connor

wynters wrote: »

Na I think he was responding to Mrwillbecks; "Just thinking actually, if we have our best 11 out and compare it to Liverpools and Arsenal's first eleven, I believe we would have the better team - the players below would be in my team made up of the three - anyone disagree?"

... Can't argue with that back 4, but to have 3 'big names' who've hardly played in ahead of 3 Villa players who've practically been been ever-presents is laughable!

Fabregas was muck before he got injured - Euros hangover. Walcott didn't complete a single 90 minutes before his shoulder injury and I think Torres had only scored 3 league goals before his double last week??? Compared to Barry, Milner and Aggy respectively, it's a no-brainer!

Even the bit in italics says BEST 11, not best 11 from this season, just best 11. Torres is better than Agbonlahor and to suggest Fabregas is not worthy of a place is just stupid.

eagle eye

Mitch Connor wrote: »

Even the bit in italics says BEST 11, not best 11 from this season, just best 11. Torres is better than Agbonlahor and to suggest Fabregas is not worthy of a place is just stupid.

This bit, I'm not sure about that, if you are talking just as a goalscorer I would agree wholeheartedly, but there is so much more to Agbonlahor than just that, he covers a lot of ground, can play on either side of the pitch as well as up front to an exceptionally high standard.
Better striker yes, better all around player, don't think so.

L'prof

eagle eye wrote: »

This bit, I'm not sure about that, if you are talking just as a goalscorer I would agree wholeheartedly, but there is so much more to Agbonlahor than just that, he covers a lot of ground, can play on either side of the pitch as well as up front to an exceptionally high standard.
Better striker yes, better all around player, don't think so.

We'll make it simple, who would you prefer in your team right now?

eagle eye

jasonorr wrote: »

We'll make it simple, who would you prefer in your team right now?

If I had to choose between them right now I'd pick Agbonlahor. But that would be for more than just one reason, Torres is not fully fit right now, he has missed a lot of the season so far, Agbonlahor is having, yet again, his best season for Villa, he has improved every year so far. If I was picking someone to just score goals for me, I'd go with Torres, but if I wanted somebody who can play at a high level week in week out and I can move him around in the team I'd pick Agbonlahor.

wynters

Ok... hands up. Sorry - I took it up wrong. There was drink taken!!!!!!

But lets say it WAS the 'team of the season so far' from those 3 sides...? Would you still argue Fab has been better than Barry, Torres better than Agbonlahor, or Walcott better than Milner...???

L'prof

eagle eye wrote: »

If I had to choose between them right now I'd pick Agbonlahor. But that would be for more than just one reason, Torres is not fully fit right now, he has missed a lot of the season so far, Agbonlahor is having, yet again, his best season for Villa, he has improved every year so far. If I was picking someone to just score goals for me, I'd go with Torres, but if I wanted somebody who can play at a high level week in week out and I can move him around in the team I'd pick Agbonlahor.

It'd be Torres for me every time, he's just such a great finisher it's ridiculous!

Evil_Clown

No mention of Eboue or Lucas !!
I'm disgusted

Helix

eagle eye wrote: »

This bit, I'm not sure about that, if you are talking just as a goalscorer I would agree wholeheartedly, but there is so much more to Agbonlahor than just that, he covers a lot of ground, can play on either side of the pitch as well as up front to an exceptionally high standard.
Better striker yes, better all around player, don't think so.

ah here jesus christ

torres is a million times the player gabby agbonlahor will ever be

PHB

Wow, I like Agbonlahor, but lets not be, ya know, stupid.

invincibleirish

Agbonlahors hamstring with Torres' prowess then you'd have a player.

Anyway back OT, Rovers away tomorrow, tricky tie to call, Rovers gave a good show of themselves at VP before Xmas under Ince in a game i think its fair to say Villa were lucky to win. Hopefully our much vaunted firepower will overcome them but tbh i see this as a draw as well. Benni might come back to haunt Villa...

Bounty Hunter

Villa are going to play their most attacking line-up in the prem all season vs Blackburn. For the first time since Milner signed odds are we will play 4-4-2 with Milner and Ashley Young on the wings which oddly we havent done yet as pre 4-5-1 we had NRC playing RM.

Even though he probably still hasnt earned a first team birth aswell id actually like to see Shorey start (although i might be alone on that one). Hopefully with Bouma coming back and L.Young always an alternative a fire will be lit under Shorey and he will be motivated to prove himself to MON and the Villa faithful while seing the Villa side have balance and width with Luke and Milner right and Ashley and Shorey left.

invincibleirish

I would have thought the 451 would be more apt for this kind of game.

Neil3030

Yeah I'm 4-5-1 all the way too. We looked pretty unsure of ourselves the couple of times we reverted back to 4-4-2 recently. But if MON wants to play Gabby, Young and Milner he may have to switch, unless he plays Jimmy in the middle and Gabby on the right wing...


EDIT:

Actually I can almost certainly see us start with a 4-4-2:

................Friedel...............
Cuellar..Davies..Knight..Young
Milner...Petrov...Barry...Young
.........Hesky....Agbonlahor.....

With Sidwell to replace either Agbonlahor or Heskey if we're leading in the second half and we'll switch to 4-5-1. Maybe Big John to get a run replacing Heskey at some stage too.

Bounty Hunter

Neil3030 wrote: »

EDIT:

Actually I can almost certainly see us start with a 4-4-2:

................Friedel...............
Cuellar..Davies..Knight..Young
Milner...Petrov...Barry...Young
.........Hesky....Agbonlahor.....

With Sidwell to replace either Agbonlahor or Heskey if we're leading in the second half and we'll switch to 4-5-1. Maybe Big John to get a run replacing Heskey at some stage too.

thats exactley what id expect. Weve done brilliantly with 4-5-1/4-3-3 but since Heskey's arrival and Carew's return I expect us to start 4-4-2 in most games

tomred1

Neil3030 wrote: »

Yeah I'm 4-5-1 all the way too. We looked pretty unsure of ourselves the couple of times we reverted back to 4-4-2 recently. But if MON wants to play Gabby, Young and Milner he may have to switch, unless he plays Jimmy in the middle and Gabby on the right wing...


EDIT:

Actually I can almost certainly see us start with a 4-4-2:

................Friedel...............
Cuellar..Davies..Knight..Young
Milner...Petrov...Barry...Young
.........Hesky....Agbonlahor.....

With Sidwell to replace either Agbonlahor or Heskey if we're leading in the second half and we'll switch to 4-5-1. Maybe Big John to get a run replacing Heskey at some stage too.

THat line up looks even better with the likes of Carew,Sidwell,NRC(is he injured),Harewood,Shorey on the bench.

Bounty Hunter

tomred1 wrote: »

THat line up looks even better with the likes of ....NRC(is he injured)

he is supposidly going to be fit for Blackburn and will probably be on our strongest bench of the season.

Neil3030

tomred1 wrote: »

THat line up looks even better with the likes of Carew,Sidwell,NRC(is he injured),Harewood,Shorey on the bench.

NRC is not in the squad:

Emile Heskey is available after being ineligible for the FA Cup win over Doncaster but Nigel Reo-Coker's expected comeback from a hamstring injury has been delayed.

O'Neill said: "Nigel trained yesterday but still felt a bit of twinge and he has gone for a scan and we are awaiting the results.

"We were hoping he would be available for tomorrow. That is not going to be the case. We are just hoping it is not too bad."

Neil3030

It really shows how far we've come that our first choice bench is probably:

Guzan
Carew
Gardner
Reo-Coker
Knight
Shorey
Sidwell

Makings of a solid top 8 team there imo

Bounty Hunter

Neil3030 wrote: »

It really shows how far we've come that our first choice bench is probably:

Guzan
Carew
Gardner
Reo-Coker
Knight
Shorey
Sidwell

Makings of a solid top 8 team there imo

every single one of them could get their game in another premiership team imo and thats not even including the promising Delfounso or The Cult of the hare .

Finally we have a proper full squad minus a backup RB but NRC, Cuellar and Gardner have all coverd their as our RB has been playing LB. Except that RB from now on id expect every signing to be good enough to either at minimum compete for a first team slot or be potential future stars, weve got all our squad players unless anyone leaves.