Aston Villa Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

Bounty Hunter

Along the same lines of what people are saying about Micah richards a few weeks back, I think this would be fantastic if it came to pass.

VILLA AND BARCA EYE MANCIENNE
England U-21 defender frustrated at Chelsea


LOAN STAR - Michael Mancienne
By LUKE NICOLI, 14/02/2009

CHELSEA’S Michael Mancienne is attracting interest from both Aston Villa and Barcelona.

The England Under-21 international defender is out of contract next summer and is said to be frustrated at the lack of first- team opportunities at Stamford Bridge.


Despite earning rave reviews on loan at Wolves, he knows John Terry, Ricardo Carvalho and Alex remain ahead of him at Chelsea — and he has yet to make his first- team bow.

Cant believe he is out of contract in the Summer, never heard that mentioned anywhere and with Chelsea maybe needing funds to sign attacking alternatives maybe we could offer a small fee ala Heskey and Maloney for him. He will be quality in the future and can cover RB too.

Imagine Villa signing him and Sturridge in the summer for free!

JPA

It's weird to lose eh?

Bounty Hunter wrote: »

Along the same lines of what people are saying about Micah richards a few weeks back, I think this would be fantastic if it came to pass.



Cant believe he is out of contract in the Summer, never heard that mentioned anywhere and with Chelsea maybe needing funds to sign attacking alternatives maybe we could offer a small fee ala Heskey and Maloney for him. He will be quality in the future and can cover RB too.

Imagine Villa signing him and Sturridge in the summer for free!

Why would we offer a fee?

Bounty Hunter

we wouldent actually now that i think about it, shocked that he isnt signed up tho, chelsea should have tied him down to a few more years while he was lighting up the championship (which earned him a full england call up) instead of maybe losing him on a free. He would be a quality signing for anyclub imo hense Barca sniffing about (supposidly).

invincibleirish

That Mancienne story is from the NOTW, hardly reputable.

Reflecting on todays performance, hard to fault Everton their Victory, but still massively disappointing. Hope its a blip.

Helix

we would have to pay for both mancienne and sturridge, the fees would be set by tribuneral as theyre under 23

the mancienne link is a load of hoop imo

invincibleirish

See that Curtis dislocated his shoulder not once but twice yesterday ouch!. Fair play to him and all that.

Helix

suppose i can forgive him for being so bad so lol

invincibleirish

When did it pop out the 2nd time? for the 3rd goal?

Neil3030

So is Curtis out for long? Yikes, not sure a centre-half pairing of Knight and Cuellar will be exactly airtight...

One Cold Hand

Is Cuellar not injured too?

Could have a centre half pairing of Knight and a semi-fit Bouma? Yikes.

Helix

id imagine curtis will play

Raekwon

Stiliyan Petrov has admitted Gareth Barry's future at Aston Villa will have a direct bearing on his own.

The Bulgarian midfielder has revealed that were Barry to call time on his Villa Park career this summer, then that would have a 'big influence' on his own his outlook.

The England international was strongly linked with a move to Liverpool last year and interest is once again expected to resurface once the pre-season transfer window re-opens.

Petrov insists that for now resolving his own contractual issue remains at the back of his mind, despite having only 17 months to run on his current deal, but has revealed that he wants to see the club prove their ambition before he commits to anything.

"The manager will try to show everybody that he wants to build something big here and one of the things is to keep Gareth Barry because he is maybe the most important player at the club," he said.

"If we keep Gareth it will also send out a message to all of the players, a big message that we are in for something big here next year.

"We all hope he is going to stay because he is one of the best midfielders in the country and you try your best to keep him if you want to achieve something."
Priorities

Martin O'Neill has made persuading Petrov to pen a contract extension his top priority before the end of the season, but the 29-year-old playmaker claims no discussions have been held as yet.

"If the club is interested to offer me a new contract, they will contact my agent and speak about that," he added.

"It is no priority at the moment. There are other priorities at the moment - for the club to finish in the top four of the Premier League and to go as far as we can in the Uefa Cup.

"That is the most important thing."

This is a worrying quote from Petrov & quite frankly I think it is a little bit arrogant considering MON stood by him when he was playing rubbish for a couple of seasons & the majority of Villa fans were calling for his head.

Anyway, where would he go if he did leave? What top 4/5 teams in the major leagues of Europe will be looking for a 31 year old midfielder? (he is 29 now but when his contact is up in 17 months he will be close to 31).

If he does leave then it will only be a backward step IMO. Yes very ambitious Mr Petrov! :rolleyes:

One Cold Hand

edit/ should have put preview in match thread! Doh!

lee_arama

What are Villa fans honest opinions on tonights game? I was just chatting to a fan in my stats class and he thinks that Villa can grab a win here, or a draw, but are likely, in his words, to get trolleyed on the return leg.

CSKA were a cash cow for me in the past year, with Wagner Love personally contributing to my wallet as only he could.

Villa at 5/6 seems a little short, and at 10/3 for Moscow I'm wondering if there isn't an element of biased odds laying on the part of local/UK brick and mortars?

Many sites quote the fact that CSKA played their last competetive game 2 months ago, but why not say that Villa have had an overly full schedule in recent weeks? There's never any talk of the PL teams having been out of competetion when it comes to qualifying rounds...so why make an issue of it here?

This is a Villa lay for me, with CSKA to win at 10/3 and Wagner Love to score at ANY TIME at 11/4 outstanding value.

In fact a scorecast of 0-1 with Wagner Love being the FGS (8/1) must be phenomonal value on Betfair @ 27.0

death1234567

Raekwon wrote: »

This is a worrying quote from Petrov

If you read the quotes its not worrying. If you read the headline it is because the journo is trying to make a story out of nothing. When reading columns like that one its best to just read the quotes and skip the headline and fluff

Neil3030

Raekwon wrote: »

This is a worrying quote from Petrov & quite frankly I think it is a little bit arrogant considering MON stood by him when he was playing rubbish for a couple of seasons & the majority of Villa fans were calling for his head.

Anyway, where would he go if he did leave? What top 4/5 teams in the major leagues of Europe will be looking for a 31 year old midfielder? (he is 29 now but when his contact is up in 17 months he will be close to 31).

If he does leave then it will only be a backward step IMO. Yes very ambitious Mr Petrov! :rolleyes:

What paper was that article from? Disgraceful misquotation. MON will hopefully ban whatever rag that is from any Villa press conferences henceforth to teach them a lesson.

Neil3030

Injury news for CSKA:

Reo-Coker, Carlos Cuellar and Martin Laursen obviously all out. Davies will play, Heskey will not.

And speaking of injuries, Bouma was pulled from a reserve game against Arsenal as a precaution, after feeling sore in training.

eagle eye

Neil3030 wrote: »

Injury news for CSKA:

Reo-Coker, Carlos Cuellar and Martin Laursen obviously all out. Davies will play, Heskey will not.

And speaking of injuries, Bouma was pulled from a reserve game against Arsenal as a precaution, after feeling sore in training.

I heard a little something from my brother regarding Bouma. This might be public knowledge, but apparently he is finding it hard to forget about the injury when he trains and plays. It might be holding up his progress.

therecklessone

Lads, there's a Uefa Cup thread this week:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055491055

Ta.

Bounty Hunter

therecklessone wrote: »

Lads, there's a Uefa Cup thread this week:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055491055

Ta.

thanks lil hitler although we villa fans do like to go against what were supposed to do (ask the "big 4":D)

L'prof

So how do ye think ye'll fair on the plastic pitch in Moscow?

Bounty Hunter

I could see us scoring and removing away goals from it unless we won that way but personally im worried about this one, important games coming up and an away match in Russia on a plastic pitch isnt what we want esp not when their squad is 100% fit after a nice break.

shoutman

Reflections on tonight.

I thought we played quite well actually. The Setanta commentators had me on serious tilt, how they thought we were by far the second best team in the first half is beyond me, CSKA had one chance and took it well, we had a few and didn't take them.

I think Gaby is just low on confidence, he bags one and he should go on another rush, disappointing tonight though.
Petrov looked a class act in the first half, got quieter in the second half. Ash had a few killer balls into the box that really deserved to be converted.
Gardner worked hard, played reasonably well but still lacks the pace/trickery to be a wide man, can't blame him for effort.

At the back we looked quite shakey, Knight didn't have the best of game, slid in a few times where he shouldn't have. Don't see how the commentators thought that Guzan should of done better, he covered the near post as you would always be told to as a keeper, he made himself as big as possible, maybe went near post a bit early but none the less it was a good finish from Wagner Love.

I think this tie is still in our hands. 1-1 is ten times better then 2-2. It means that we have to score an away goal, but we'd be out trying to win the match anyway so it shouldn't make a difference.

I still would hope we would make it through. Going to be a fascinating return leg.

invincibleirish

Taught Gabby was alright myself tonite, sure he can't head but he was more involved tonight and was unlucky with at least one of the offside decisions.

Petrov immense, GB also played well and the defence did well,even Shorey. It's a disappointing result and Moscow will be tough, but bar the touch of class from Vagner Love and a few half chances CSKA were held at bay.

Milner out tonight with Thigh injury i see, hopefully him and NRC/CC will be in contention for Saturday.

One Cold Hand

Didn't see the game so can't comment on individual performances.
I think we needed a win at home so we could have gone away with something to defend. I think it will be tough to go through now, though not impossible.

It's a win-win for Villa. If we go through we have more European footie to look forward to. If we lose we concentrate on the CL qualification.

DSB

Didn't see the match because I was at the Shels game, but judging by the result we might be getting ourselves into a bit of a slump, and with Chelsea next, things look scary. The bench for tonight looked absolutely terrible. More investment was needed in January to be honest. Hopefully Arsenal won't go on a good run though and we've a good chance of scraping 4th.

invincibleirish

Relax DSB its not that hopeless a cause:p. Villa well capable of beating Chelsea(of course the opposite is very possible also), and well able to get a result in Moscow. Penalties if necessary.

shoutman

Villa deserved to win the match, I think we have the beating of Chelsea too, but new manager and all that is always gonna be tough.

wynters

Was happy enough with the draw and the performance. We had by far the better of the possession without killing ourselves and didn't suffer any injuries for Saturday...(touch wood). With a bit more luck we would have won it. Thought Davies, Petrov and Luke Young deserving of special mentions.

Not a disaster, positive enough display and one goal away is very managable.

How Pat Dolan ever managed to get on the telly is a mystery. What a dummy! Some of the most bizarre co-commentator quotes I've ever heard... just.... mad sh/t.

Look at him there...

invincibleirish

I think i was pretty confident of Villa getting a result at the Bridge though, and with the new manager factor like you say Shoutman and Villas injuries and fatigue its gonna be a tough one. But tonight at least was not a bad night.

Kinetic^

The last 15 minutes of the first half and most of the 2nd half, Villa played well. Young had them worried every time he got the ball and eventually the rest of the midfielders came into play in the 2nd half and we got most of the posession and kept them on the back foot. Carew is still rusty tbh and gardner on the wing was never going to work wonders (although he played decent enough).

We were down Milner, Fridel, Heskey, Laursen and a few more. It was an overall good performance so I don't think people need to start panicing. We're still on a great run in the league and have only lost 1 in about 10/11 games.

Saturday is a big big game but I think we can do it.

JPA

DSB wrote: »

Didn't see the match because I was at the Shels game, but judging by the result we might be getting ourselves into a bit of a slump, and with Chelsea next, things look scary. The bench for tonight looked absolutely terrible. More investment was needed in January to be honest. Hopefully Arsenal won't go on a good run though and we've a good chance of scraping 4th.

You didn't see the match so you wouldn't know we played excellent tonight with several good chances. You can't say we are getting ourselves into a slump AT ALL. In saying that I think CSKA were quite reserved tonight and will be much more attacking in the 2nd leg, which may be good and bad for us. They'll be delighted with that result and we could see a different performance by them next week.


Anyway Chelsea on Saturday. The games are coming thick and fast. 4 more games and then we have a 10 day break which we badly need.

invincibleirish

The games are coming thick and fast JPA and sure this is what its all about, this time last year all Villa had was league games left to try and scrape 5th, now we're going through 3 big games in 6 days, VP sounded great last night whatever the narky commentator was saying on 5.

A win on Saturday is whats its about now, Chelsea must be favourites, they are rested, have bigger squad and have the Hiddink factor but no one is going to write off this Villa team. Unless they've been drinking.

Up the Villa! down with recession and striking bus drivers, my jaunt to VP on Sat is costing me a bomb.

eagle eye

I asked this in the match thread but no answer there so I'll ask here. I didn't get to see the game but by all accounts Villa were the better team.

Now I checked the team lineups and I noticed that there were a couple of players who would not be first choice, or who have not played much recently on the pitch. Namely Guzan, Shorey, Gardner and Carew who is only back from injury.

Was Heskey not available, I notice he along with Sidwell and Milner were not on the bench?

Is it a case of Martin O'Neill resting players and not really being super serious about the Uefa Cup?

invincibleirish

Heskey still recovering from injury he got with England. Milner has a thigh injury, Sidwell suspended. Messrs Laursen/NRC/CC all been out a while, Bouma hopefully back soon (sub on Chelsea bench perhaps). Guzan preferred by MON for the European games.

So in essence Villa were down 7/8 potential first teamers last night. Still got a draw and unlucky not to win, Villa played all the football ast night and were unlucky not to win. the squad is small but not as small as last season.

JPA

eagle eye wrote: »

I asked this in the match thread but no answer there so I'll ask here. I didn't get to see the game but by all accounts Villa were the better team.

Now I checked the team lineups and I noticed that there were a couple of players who would not be first choice, or who have not played much recently on the pitch. Namely Guzan, Shorey, Gardner and Carew who is only back from injury.

Was Heskey not available, I notice he along with Sidwell and Milner were not on the bench?

Is it a case of Martin O'Neill resting players and not really being super serious about the Uefa Cup?

Friedel was rested but the other changes were all necessary. Sidwell was suspended, Heskey and Milner injured.

Savman

I was at the CSKA game, a draw as the least we deserved and I fancy us to score out there so wouldn't be overly concerned with the away goals. It's a game we can win. CSKA played for the draw and went home happy, that speaks volumes about how Villa are perceived in Europe

Anyways, the good: Petrov had a freakin' blinder and Barry had some sublime moments. We looked good going forward, bearing in mind we were back to the Ash/Gabby/Carew combo. Just didn't quite "click" at times but that's to be expected. Carew didn't do a whole lot and looks way off the pace, scored tho. Gabby + Heading = baby jesus cry. Luke Young was terrific, Gardner his usual reliable self.

The bad: Knight back to his shakey shakey, MON has to be aware of his consistency issues as a defender. Davies wasn't any better tbh, neither looked comfortable and I think Wagner Love had them both rattled. Shorey was ok. Guzan was nervy, long way to go before he ever claims that #1 jersey in my mind.

We're still well in the competition, and really all we have to do is score (and avoid defeat) in Moscow. I think CSKA will park the bus, even at home, so it's important we can break them down and get them out of the safety zone.

To Chelsea, man what a game. Gutted I can't make it :mad:

therecklessone

Savman wrote: »

I was at the CSKA game, a draw as the least we deserved and I fancy us to score out there so wouldn't be overly concerned with the away goals. It's a game we can win. CSKA played for the draw and went home happy, that speaks volumes about how Villa are perceived in Europe

In fairness, I would say it has as much to do with CSKA not having played a competitive match in two months, and it being Zico's first game in charge. They'll be a tough opponent in Moscow.

Helix

tbh id say theres an element of the "who?" around villa in europe these days

invincibleirish

There probably is Helix but luckily with technology these days and google even the most anglophobe European won't take long to remember or find out who Villa are.



CSKA and their much vaunted UEFA Cup triumph just doesn't match up tbh.

Chelsea had all the money and they still can't match what Villa have done.

Helix

sure we cant match up to what forest have done in that case

invincibleirish

Not yet, and i know a forest fan he is quite a bitter man.

Savman

therecklessone wrote: »

In fairness, I would say it has as much to do with CSKA not having played a competitive match in two months, and it being Zico's first game in charge. They'll be a tough opponent in Moscow.

They were a tough opponent in Villa Park. I never claimed they were easy pickings, but making multiple substitutions in the 90th minute would suggest they got the result they wanted.

It's a tricky tie, but like all two-legged ties an early goal over there will make a real game of it.

Helix wrote:

tbh id say theres an element of the "who?" around villa in europe these days

Give the Europeans a bit more credit than that.

JPA

Helix wrote: »

tbh id say theres an element of the "who?" around villa in europe these days

The PL is probably the most watched league in the world, so I don't think so.

Helix

looks like im gonna miss the match on saturday coz ive fallen behind a bit in work and ive a deadline of sunday

One Cold Hand

Helix wrote: »

looks like im gonna miss the match on saturday coz ive fallen behind a bit in work and ive a deadline of sunday

Call yourself a Villa fan?!?;)

Bandwaggoners out!

Savman

Helix wrote: »

looks like im gonna miss the match on saturday coz ive fallen behind a bit in work and ive a deadline of sunday

Bummer.

If you were a real fan you'd go.

Helix

hahah pack of ****ers, thats all yis are

Neil3030

Helix wrote: »

hahah pack of ****ers, thats all yis are

On the plus side, your absence will probably result in us winning... or at least not drawing 0-0... :P

Helix

Neil3030 wrote: »

On the plus side, your absence will probably result in us winning... or at least not drawing 0-0... :P

haha yeh, the law of averages dictates we'll win 2-1 or 4-2