Aston Villa Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

invincibleirish

This fan is leaving his house now to get to VP tomorrow, 2 buses, a taxi, a hotel(to write 2000 words for Monday), a plane and 2 more trains will get me there by 12.45 tomorrow.

Dam there being no Saturday flights to Brum from Cork, tis the bane of my life.

Helix

anything fly to east mids from cork? might be an option for future?

Neil3030

Flying into Liverpool is also an option. Train from Liverpool to Brum is a heck of a lot handier than getting from Cork to Dublin Airport.

Bounty Hunter

Sky and Setnata have chosen two of our upcoming games to feature on the box.

Our clash against Man U at Old Trafford will now take place on April 5th with a 4pm kick off, and will be shown live on Sky Sports.

However, should Man U reach the quarter finals of the Champs League and end up playing the following Tuesday, our game with them will revert to April 4th, with a 12.45pm kick off.

Our home clash against Everton has been selected by Setnata and will take place now on April 12th with a 1.30pm kick off.

Helix

lovely, ill book the everton flights later

wasnt sure of the date with that

Savman

Everton on Easter Sunday does sound appealing...

invincibleirish

East Midlands-Cork service withdrawn i believe, was very handy for midlands relations coming our way. I usually stay in Dublin anyway with chums and make a weekend of it or drive up and drive down when i'm heading to the Villa, But no car-big game and academic commitments mean i'm staying in hotel tonight (i'm posting on the Aircoach good times).

villains77

Savman wrote: »

I was at the CSKA game,

so was i sitting in trinity road front row seat. were you in the aston social after. met up with a load of villa fnas from armagh and belfast
think shorey played well petrov or barry for my man of match. bring on chelsea. hoping for a 2 nil win be great to beat them

Savman

villains77 wrote: »

so was i sitting in trinity road front row seat. were you in the aston social after. met up with a load of villa fnas from armagh and belfast

Nah dont hang around after the game, first train back to Brum. Trinity is cool but I do think it can be a bit 'quieter' in there...

matrim

I've just posted this on villatalk also, but for anyone watching the match tomorrow I'll be in the longstone on townsend st tomorrow

Helix

Savman wrote: »

Nah dont hang around after the game, first train back to Brum

same as meself

didnt even like heading out in brum when i lived in the west midlands lol

Bounty Hunter

hopefully the team will give Randy Lerner a nice birthday present today with a result vs Chelsea. Happy bday to the premierships best chairman.

Gonzovision

Im going for Chelsea in this one. Come on Hiddink play Drogba and Anelka up front.

JPA

Welcome to the Villa thread.

Gonzovision

JPA wrote: »

Welcome to the Villa thread.

Oooops I think I will be leaving...:o

JPA

Team

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

I hate, hate, hate Cuellar at RB.

matrim

JPA wrote: »

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

I hate, hate, hate Cuellar at RB.

It's what I would have expected with Cuellar fit to play. I'd perfer him at CB with Reo-Croker at RB but as Reo-Croker isn't fit, I think it's our strongest team

slingerz

sidwell has to be better than petrov

Tomthepost

linky???

Tomthepost

http://www.calcion.altervista.org/

DSB

How woeful is our defence?

DSB

Absolutely pathetic.

Samurai

Esse85

slingerz wrote: »

sidwell has to be better than petrov

Are you having a laugh?

Helix

DSB wrote: »

Absolutely pathetic.

see, this type of thing gets on my nerves

thats EXACTLY how we've been playing for most of the season, but when i bring it up when we're winning i get the whole "we're doing great, shut up, we're deadly"

only ever seems to be mentioned that we play some pretty dreadful unimaginative stuff when we lose

now im not giving out about it, the special brand of hoofball has served us well this season and still looks like getting us a top 4 spot, but lets have a bit of perspective, take off the rose tints, and realise that thats how we play football, and have done for most of the season

no point giving out that we were unimaginative, or playing long balls today, coz thats how we've been getting results all year

DSB

Helix wrote: »

see, this type of thing gets on my nerves

thats EXACTLY how we've been playing for most of the season, but when i bring it up when we're winning i get the whole "we're doing great, shut up, we're deadly"

only ever seems to be mentioned that we play some pretty dreadful unimaginative stuff when we lose

now im not giving out about it, the special brand of hoofball has served us well this season and still looks like getting us a top 4 spot, but lets have a bit of perspective, take off the rose tints, and realise that thats how we play football, and have done for most of the season

no point giving out that we were unimaginative, or playing long balls today, coz thats how we've been getting results all year

Why does it get on your nerves that I said the performance was pathetic? I've never once said Villa have been playing well.

Helix

because that performance was on a par with pretty much every other performance this season

Esse85

The midfield were outplayed today, Barry and Petrov were not in the game at all. Usually this cannot be said.

DSB

No way.

PHB

I think its unfair to characterise Villa's football as hoof. I think they play a very direct style, but its a very attacking style. It's imo based on long balls up to the big front man / pacey guy running behind, devastating counter-attacks with incredible pace, and deadly cross from a world class winger into the front men. It's good solid English football imo.

World class teams however have the ability to keep wingers quiet and deal with almost every cross coming into the box. That's when you need the midfield to find some magical little pass, that's where Villa are lacking imo. [But if they can get to 4th, they can buy that sort of player]

Helix

Esse85 wrote: »

The midfield were outplayed today, Barry and Petrov were not in the game at all. Usually this cannot be said.

dunno about that tbh

eagle eye

Helix wrote: »

dunno about that tbh

What do you not know?
They were outplayed today

or


You cannot usually say that.


Imo both parts of his statement are true.

Helix

PHB wrote: »

I think its unfair to characterise Villa's football as hoof. I think they play a very direct style, but its a very attacking style. It's imo based on long balls up to the big front man / pacey guy running behind, devastating counter-attacks with incredible pace, and deadly cross from a world class winger into the front men. It's good solid English football imo.

World class teams however have the ability to keep wingers quiet and deal with almost every cross coming into the box. That's when you need the midfield to find some magical little pass, that's where Villa are lacking imo. [But if they can get to 4th, they can buy that sort of player]

ah its hoofball at the end of the day. you can doll it up however you like, but its still "get ball, hoof, chase", which frustrates me because we can play ball when we want to

barry used to be able to pick that ball for us, but it seems that this season hes become more of a workhorse than he used to be

again im not bitching, its the way we play, and its why we're 4th, im just saying i find how one dimensional we are frustrating

DSB

At least 6 out of the next 9 points needed now I'd say.

Esse85

Helix wrote: »

dunno about that tbh

Lampard made Barry look average today, Petrov never got his tackles in and couldnt control the game. After 10 mins it was clear we needed a 5 man midfield to deal with Chelsea's central 3 of Lampard, Mikel and Ballack.

Helix

eagle eye wrote: »

What do you not know?
They were outplayed today

or


You cannot usually say that.


Imo both parts of his statement are true.

that its not often you can say they werent in the game. petrov, for all his quality this season, is rarely in the game beyond winning the ball and passing it backwards/sideways from the halfway line. nothing wrong with that, every team needs someone like him in their side

barry tends to be in and out of the game all the time, despite getting man of the match at almost every single home game ive been to this season for some reason.

our midfield, particularly the center, hasnt offered us all that much this season in a creative/attacking sense. its certainly not petrovs game anyway. last year barry was the only man who could pick a quick forward pass, and he did it time and again, this season there doesnt seem to be the same willingness there for whatever reason (i assume its tactical) to try those kind of balls. its a case of get it straight out to young or milner

barry and petrov aside tho, the one area where we've fallen down all season is our lack of movement. our players just stand around waiting for the ball to be passed to them, theyre never doing much off the ball at all, and thats why we look like we cant string 3 passes together without hoofing the ball so often

Esse85

I never felt confident today, id of rather the game was at Stambord Bridge. We really seem to struggle to score at home. The team really lacks a natural finisher to bring on or even start.

When we go behind against a decent side, the mentality seems to be that if we hoof enough long balls into the box, then we're bound to get a lucky break. Id rather we kept the ball on the floor and played a more patient game.

Its vital we bounce back with a win because the last 3 games read, Lost, drew, lost.

Doodee

To be fair to the side we created a few decent chances, but we didn't capitalize on them.
The goal was created from some quality play. I think we looked far better in the second half. We played with a bit more intelligence and got players into the box.

I wasn't overwhelmed with Heskeys performance today though. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and say that he is still adjusting to his new role/team but to me it seemed like he wasted a few good opportunities to create something.
Abby was his typical self, good and bad.

I think had Milner been marginally better with the crossing today we might have nicked it.

Kudos to Friedel though. Some quality saves stopped Chelsea from going 2-0 up.

Let's get back to our best, and stick to 4-5-1 until next season when we might be more comfortable at 4-4-2

eagle eye

Helix wrote: »

that its not often you can say they werent in the game. petrov, for all his quality this season, is rarely in the game beyond winning the ball and passing it backwards/sideways from the halfway line. nothing wrong with that, every team needs someone like him in their side

barry tends to be in and out of the game all the time, despite getting man of the match at almost every single home game ive been to this season for some reason.

our midfield, particularly the center, hasnt offered us all that much this season in a creative/attacking sense. its certainly not petrovs game anyway. last year barry was the only man who could pick a quick forward pass, and he did it time and again, this season there doesnt seem to be the same willingness there for whatever reason (i assume its tactical) to try those kind of balls. its a case of get it straight out to young or milner

barry and petrov aside tho, the one area where we've fallen down all season is our lack of movement. our players just stand around waiting for the ball to be passed to them, theyre never doing much off the ball at all, and thats why we look like we cant string 3 passes together without hoofing the ball so often

I agree with pretty much everything you say there. Today though Petrov and Barry were run over in midfield imo. As far as the work ethic goes though, I think Young and Agbonlahor have worked hard all season. Heskey worked very hard today, but you seem to be sitting too far back up front in the first half and in the second half there was certainly a gap between the midfield and the forwards. That is something that has to be addressed in the future, not this season obviously but to progress further I'd imagine there has to be improvement there. I personally thought today that you looked very weak at the back, Friedel was excellent but Knight had one of those games where you were expecting his big error, and Davies looked strangely out of it for the first time this season that I can remember. Cuellar came back in and looked dodgy too, but then again you were playing a team who were on their first outing for a new manager and you always expect to see them proving their worth in that circumstance.

The future looks bright though, as you look at today you see the areas that need improvement. When Bouma and Laursen return that sorts out the defence, but I personally don't see Milner as anything other than a squad player, and you do need a proven goalscorer to go alongside Agbonlahor in the long term. You will get there under your present manager, I really do believe that.

Esse85

Arsenal only drew;)

Helix

dodged a bullet today lads

roll on stoke on sunday

Bounty Hunter

Arsenal drawing is a absolutley brilliant result for the Villa, they are really slipping up big time considering they need to start winning now and they arent going to get many better chances to cath up then when Villa have to play Chelsea

Time Magazine

A reasonable performance, all things considered. Knight/Davies were pretty poor but when you consider they're pretty much our back up CB's (Knight's fourth choice and King Carlos stayed on when JC was brought on) and playing against Drogba and Anelka, that's not too bad. Luke Young is a great addition, I look forward to seeing him on his preferred side. Cuellar did a decent job. We really are a different side with five in midfield. We always looked to be struggling. But considering we were playing against a team that could nearly call themselves the best in Europe (thank **** they can't...) it wasn't too bad. When Laursen and Bouma are back, our defence will be quality. Selling Barry and getting that creative central midfielder could be a great move in the summer if the prices were right. A bit of competition for Gabby would be great, though maybe Nathan will provide that next season.

So "not completely crap" is my assessment. And with Arsenal only drawing, we're in a better position than if we'd drawn and them won. I think all of us would have accepted that before the match.

Esse85

Bouma may never reproduce the great form he displayed last season, i wouldnt rely on him too much as he'll take a while to get match sharp again.

As for Barry, he was never worth £18m, and his form this season has been below what he did last season, he also has another year of his contract used up therefore decreasing his overall transfer value.

JPA

I haven't been online today. I was curious about the response, mixed I guess would be the answer.
We were overrun in midfield today but that's not surprising as it was 3 v 2.

Now that we have Heskey and Carew fit, I think MON may feel like he has to (or wants to more like) play a 4-4-2 but we had so many good results with our 1 up top formation that I wouldn't mind seeing it against a top side like Chelsea.
But then again who would he drop? I wouldn't have minded Gabby on his own with Heskey on the bench and Gardner in the middle. Milner and Young pushing forward.

MON felt Chelsea were weak today IMO and wanted to really go for it and perhaps he underestimated them. they played better than they have for many months so we can't be too hard on ourselves. We haven't considered ourselves better than Chelsea until recent weeks and maybe we're getting ahead of ourselves. But then again we may still finish ahead of them despite this result.

Not to mention the very tough game we had on Wednesday.

So we carry on and another tough game on Wednesday, followed by Stoke at home and City away. 3 games and then a break. A break of at least a week depending on how we do midweek. We've got NRC and Bouma to come in. We will need them if they can stay fit for us. We need everyone in the entire squad.

So anyway a bit of a ramble going nowhere.

JPA

The Economist wrote: »

Selling Barry and getting that creative central midfielder could be a great move in the summer if the prices were right. n.

If you could name a player that we could sign who will not only join us but actually be better than Barry I'd be shocked.

Villain

Well if you compare todays game to when we last played Chelsea we were much improved and Chelsea were always going to get a lift with a new manager as any side does, I didn't expect anything from todays game but I thought we could have gotten a point as the second half went on.

The midfield was chasing shadows most of the game and I would have dropped Gabby back into Right Midfield after 10 minutes and put Milner in the middle we really were played around.

I said two weeks ago I expected to still finish 5th and after todays result I thought that was certainly the case but Arsenal just don't seem to want 4th place and if we can get away with another defeat to Utd without losing too many point to Arsenal then maybe we can get 4th

Bounty Hunter

tbh despite how negative it might be I expected to lose 2 points to Arsenal today with them Winning and us at best drawing against Chelsea and a new manager so im realtivley happy considering Arsenal failed to win.

We simply have to get results in the games against teams like Stoke now becuase if we can win the games people expect us to win we will get a CL spot imo

We also should not sell Barry unless we have to but still try and sign that creative midfielder in the Summer and if we get 4th i expect Barry to sign a new contract anyway and as i said when the whole Barry to Liverpool thing was first muted I would then expect him to see out his Career at Villa Park.

Helix

JPA wrote: »

If you could name a player that we could sign who will not only join us but actually be better than Barry I'd be shocked.

i dont think we're looking for someone who does what barry does, so you cant really say we need someone better than him. we DO need someone different tho, we're unable to unlock defences at the moment, and our lack of goals from set pieces this year has hurt us

invincibleirish

Villa were knackered today, but unlucky still not to take something from the game.

Moutinho as a fantasy midfield signing.