Aston Villa Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

Savman

eagle eye wrote: »

I said that I've only seen him in a couple of games if you read down a bit further.

What I meant by the comment you quoted is guys saying he is not up to it and that he should be sold if you can recoup the money you paid for him.

Exactly what you said there though, Petrov did not get off to the brightest starts there and look at him now. People need to be more patient with players.

No, the Petrov/Davies comparison has got to do with said players being dropped rested for a prolonged period of time. Sidwell needs that IMHO, he will not come good this season that's for sure. Won't matter because he will not start ahead of Milner, Young, Barry or Petrov in a month of Sundays so we may not see much of Sidwell again until one of those gets injured or suspended.

We could do with NRC back from injury soon, gonna need that never say die attitude for the run in.

Bounty Hunter

all this Arsenals extra games makes zero difference studd is odd imo what if RVP breaks his legs in thereturn leg against Roma, or thaqt game goes to extra time and penalties and then the players are exhausted in their next league match which they cant win as a result.

Of course it is possible that it wont make a difference if Arsenal really up their game in the league, esp considering the two dont play each other again but with mostly just 1 game a week from now on and breaks when other sides play in the FA cup Villa's side will be far more rested and far less likely to pick up knocks than the side playing in 2 more competitions.

Helix

if villa draw on sunday im not gonna go to any more games this season

ive been a ****in curse this year

now granted ive still never seen us lose a match, but i havent seen us win since october, or september if you only count the league

invincibleirish

Karma will strike on Sunday i can feel it, Stoke will get their first away win and Villa will be reminded from all quarters why they should not have rested everyone for Moscow. Will have to avoid here and VT for a few days i'd say if we lose....

wynters

Helix wrote: »

if villa draw on sunday im not gonna go to any more games this season

ive been a ****in curse this year

now granted ive still never seen us lose a match, but i havent seen us win since october, or september if you only count the league

Stay at home, Jonah!

invincibleirish

O'Neill's goodwill gesture to 295 fuming fans: dinner with players• Villa boss to reward fans who travelled to Moscow

Martin O'Neill will host a dinner for the 295 Aston Villa supporters who travelled to Russia as a gesture of goodwill following their Uefa Cup defeat to CSKA Moscow, when eight first-team players remained at home. A small number of fans had expressed their frustration at the final whistle following O'Neill's decision to pick a weakened team but the Midlands club have moved quickly to quell any hint of unrest by suggesting an all-expenses-paid night at Villa Park.

The offer was greeted with applause by those Villa supporters who travelled back from Russia with the team yesterday after O'Neill moved to the back of the plane and offered an explanation for his decision to pick several fringe players. The positive response to O'Neill's actions suggested that any sense of disappointment has been quickly forgotten.

The dinner, which will also be attended by a number of players, is still to be ratified by Randy Lerner but it is regarded as a formality that the Villa chairman, who was known to be disappointed with the result in Russia, will approve the idea, irrespective of the expense.

O'Neill, meanwhile, has vowed that he will never again be in a position where he has to sacrifice European football because of a lack of strength in depth in his squad. The Villa manager is confident he will have the financial backing to add more new faces in the summer and avoid a repeat of the embarrassing scenario that saw the club slip out of the Uefa Cup this week after fielding what effectively amounted to a reserve team.

Further investment will be required to ensure that is the case but there are strong indications that Lerner is prepared to provide the funds.

O'Neill's decision to prioritise qualification for the Champions League has arguably placed more pressure on the players ahead of tomorrow's match with Stoke City, although he insists that any extra burden should fall on his shoulders. "Because we get knocked out [of the Uefa Cup] does it mean there is more pressure on Sunday? Not for the players. The one thing you want to do is take pressure away from the players. I'll take it myself."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/feb/28/aston-villa-premierleague

God bless MON & RL

Frisbee

Thats pretty damn awesome

therecklessone

Meanwhile, at WHL, Redknapp described the home leg as a nuisance while Levy and his cohorts were doing their best to hype it up and boost the gate.

No sign of a thank you to the 200+ who travelled to Donetsk and were charged £5 by Spurs for a ticket that should have cost 70p

Chalk and cheese...:mad:

Just wondering... what do you lot think of Cuellar?

I've seen little of him and dunno if he's worth the ten million, like whats he good and and not so good at.

Esse85

Deleted User wrote: »

Just wondering... what do you lot think of Cuellar?

I've seen little of him and dunno if he's worth the ten million, like whats he good and and not so good at.

Hard to say until he gets played in his natural position of CB for a period of games and preferably with the same defensive partner.

In scotland he wasn't great at going forward. What'd you say he's like? sorta like wes brown in that way or is he getting forward a bit?

invincibleirish

Deleted User wrote: »

Just wondering... what do you lot think of Cuellar?

I've seen little of him and dunno if he's worth the ten million, like whats he good and and not so good at.

He's been solid if unspectacular. He's been played out of position at RB when he has beem playing at VP where he's been solid if not a little too fond of the hoofing. The only performance where he has played CB that i can recall off top of my head was away to Hamburg where he, along with Zat Knight, did not impress at all. Needsa run of games at CB, will probably get it sooner or later. Hope he sticks around he looks alright.

Helix

cuellar for me is one of those players who'll go on to be a cult hero at villa park

Bounty Hunter

Helix wrote: »

cuellar for me is one of those players who'll go on to be a cult hero at villa park

yeah hes the Mellberg replacement and has a cool moniker from his days in Scotland as "King" Cuellar

Bounty Hunter

for the second weekend in a row Arsenal have given Villa a huge opportunity by drawing against a team they should be beating (tho fulham are good under hodgson), hopefully we can take advantage this week against Stoke as apposed to Chelsea last time (which was less expected tbh)

eagle eye

Bounty Hunter wrote: »

for the second weekend in a row Arsenal have given Villa a huge opportunity by drawing against a team they should be beating (tho fulham are good under hodgson), hopefully we can take advantage this week against Stoke as apposed to Chelsea last time (which was less expected tbh)

And if Villa win tomorrow it will all about MON resting the players blah blah blah. Regardless of the result you know I believe that he was right to rest them anyways and not bother about the Uefa Cup.

I would really love to see Villa not only make the top four but finish a little higher than fourth. Its great for the PL to have new team up there challenging for the top spots.

mirwillbeback

Surely we're gonna make Champs League now?

And probably 3rd!

L'prof

mirwillbeback wrote: »

Surely we're gonna make Champs League now?

And probably 3rd!

Nothing in football is guaranteed, see where ye are after yer next 5-6 games and you'll be in a much better situation to judge that!

Edit: I should add that I definitely wouldn't bet against it!

x in the city

Villa have hard games ahead, Evertons only top four fixtures between end of season are away games at chelsea and also at Villa.

saying Villa will finish 3rd or even 4th at this stage is brave words.

Arsenal/Everton could still do a 4th spot finish

Villain

Yep I reckon Everton will offer as much a fight for 4th as Arsenal will.

I still think we will get 5th although a win tomorrow could push us on nicely.

Got tickets for the Pool game although I'll be in the pool end with Pool supporting Brother!

Helix

x in the city wrote: »

Villa have hard games ahead, Evertons only top four fixtures between end of season are away games at chelsea and also at Villa.

saying Villa will finish 3rd or even 4th at this stage is brave words.

Arsenal/Everton could still do a 4th spot finish

if we win tomorrow we go 10 clear of everton, and 8 clear of arsenal

thats a lot of points to make up to be fair

we've only got united and liverpool from the top 5 left to play, and id fancy a draw against everton. i think if liverpool continue the way they have been, we might finish ahead of them

you have to remember we're only a point off second place

Bounty Hunter

if we win tommorow we will be 10pts ahead of everton with only 10 games to go, do you really see us being that bad / them being that good to bridge that gap. I really like everton, they are a hard working side that remind me of Villa in some respects but I cant see them getting 4th even if they maintain their good form for the whole of the rest of the season.

edit: Helix pretty mch said the same thing before me

x in the city

yeh, Villa are a hard working side also, would be nice to see them finish above the pool...:p

If only Everton have not had half our 1st team decimated with injuries...

Helix

x in the city wrote: »

If only Everton have not had half our 1st team decimated with injuries...

if only villa hadnt got half our first team decimated with injuries too;)

Bounty Hunter

x in the city wrote: »

yeh, Villa are a hard working side also, would be nice to see them finish above the pool...:p

If only Everton have not had half our 1st team decimated with injuries...

gotta ask then, were you being sarcastic with that post in the uefa cup thread? if so sorry for the response

Dun laoire

Just touching on the whole CSKA thing during the week. Probably old news to most of you die hards but taught it was a nice touch by MON to invite the 295 travelling fans to a dinner with himself and the players. He must have a kick ass dining room but the missus must be dreading it :pac:

Time Magazine

Lol it'll be held at Villa Park.

Dun laoire

The Economist wrote: »

Lol it'll be held at Villa Park.

Gotcha!!

x in the city

Regarding my comments on the uefa cup.

I think it was odd the way the English clubs degraded it, I have nothing against villa or anyone else, but in spurs case I suppose since they are in $hit deep with relegation worry it was prob justified.

But villa, even tho they are at the top it is a bit folly to assume they will finish 'at least fourth' and totally neglect the uefa cup.

Milan had a full strength squad vs Bremem, and I don't think Moyes would put out a weak squad wherever the team would be in the league.

By all means Villa can focus on the CL, but even if they get into the group stages I dont think Villa would make much of an impact, the strength in dept is not there. pretty much what happened to Everton.

But, who knows, its my 2cents, Xavi was also pissed off, and rightly so (about fielding weak teams). I was gutted when we were fooked out on penos last season in the UEFA cup and even more disgusted that Rangers got to the final, probably the most boring and negative team I had the misfortune to watch. And I suppose I find it a bit amusing to find teams throwing it away at this late stage of the competition. Not just Villa but you get my gist

But in the pl this season its incredibly tight between 2nd and 4th (maybe 5th ) its anyone's game

Bounty Hunter

x in the city wrote: »

Regarding my comments on the uefa cup.

I think it was odd the way the English clubs degraded it, I have nothing against villa or anyone else, but in spurs case I suppose since they are in $hit deep with relegation worry it was prob justified.

But villa, even tho they are at the top it is a bit folly to assume they will finish 'at least fourth' and totally neglect the uefa cup.

Milan had a full strength squad vs Bremem, and I don't think Moyes would put out a weak squad wherever the team would be in the league.

By all means Villa can focus on the CL, but even if they get into the group stages I dont think Villa would make much of an impact, the strength in dept is not there. pretty much what happened to Everton.

But, who knows, its my 2cents, Xavi was also pissed off, and rightly so (about fielding weak teams). I was gutted when we were fooked out on penos last season in the UEFA cup and even more disgusted that Rangers got to the final, probably the most boring and negative team I had the misfortune to watch. And I suppose I find it a bit amusing to find teams throwing it away at this late stage of the competition. Not just Villa but you get my gist

But in the pl this season its incredibly tight between 2nd and 4th (maybe 5th ) its anyone's game

that is far better than:

x in the city wrote: »

Aston Villa should be ashamed, who do they think they are. ?, concentrating on the CL.. lol.

I hope they don't even qualify for the CL, which they will not anyway. Stoke will probably be fired up by their arrogance and win...:rolleyes:

Ridiculous tbh

tbh i think Xavi is mostly pissed also as City have a real chance to win that competition after the money thats been invested and doesent want the cup devalued by people saying sure Villa and spurs didnt even try. Thats not something im going to say tho as im like Villa no longer paying attension to the Uefa cup, its all about the league and hopefully CL.

...............................



huge game today, its at home against a team that are going to be in the relegation fight, who we owe a defeat to which would put us 8 clear of Arsenal and 10 clear of Everton. Delap is out for Stoke which is a bonus.
Gotta assume this will be the side:

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

Cuellar.....Davies.....Knight...L.Young

Milner......Petrov.....Barry....A.Young

.............Gabby......Heskey

Bench: Guzan, Shorey, Gardner, Bannan, Sidwell, Carew, The Fonz

Prediction: 2 - 0 (Knight, Gabby)

hopefully my veign of good form will continue i said it'd be 2-0 to CSKA when the squad was announced altho obviously id have liked to be wrong that time

anyone know if NRC is fit?

at the start of the season i predicted 5th, since then ive said 4th and CL is possible with how we were doin but if we win tommorow i think id actually start predicting Villa to be in the CL next year.

mirwillbeback

jasonorr wrote: »

Nothing in football is guaranteed, see where ye are after yer next 5-6 games and you'll be in a much better situation to judge that!

i'm not taking it for granted by any means, but we're two Arsenal games into the set of 6 where it seemed that Villa would have great difficulty keeping pace with them, and they've drawn 2 at home to Sunderland & Fulham. Granted, we lost to Chelsea, but a home win today would see us better off!

Arsenal are so inconsistent, i can't see them pick up 6 - 8 more points than us in 10 games particularly when they have Chelsea, Liverpool and Man U to come.

I really hope we finish above Liverpool though, 1) to prove we are a better team which I genuinely believe and 2 ) to ensure we aren't unlucky enough to finish 4th and have the team below us win the Champs League.

as for today, fancy 3 - 0, barry, milner, agbonlahor.:eek:

wynters

Massive game for us today...

That Iraqgoals website is actin' the bollocks! Anyone got any other links for the Villa game???

String

Cmon the villa. Arsenal loosing champs league spot? yes please!

eagle eye

x in the city wrote: »

Regarding my comments on the uefa cup.

I think it was odd the way the English clubs degraded it, I have nothing against villa or anyone else, but in spurs case I suppose since they are in $hit deep with relegation worry it was prob justified.

But villa, even tho they are at the top it is a bit folly to assume they will finish 'at least fourth' and totally neglect the uefa cup.

Milan had a full strength squad vs Bremem, and I don't think Moyes would put out a weak squad wherever the team would be in the league.

By all means Villa can focus on the CL, but even if they get into the group stages I dont think Villa would make much of an impact, the strength in dept is not there. pretty much what happened to Everton.

But, who knows, its my 2cents, Xavi was also pissed off, and rightly so (about fielding weak teams). I was gutted when we were fooked out on penos last season in the UEFA cup and even more disgusted that Rangers got to the final, probably the most boring and negative team I had the misfortune to watch. And I suppose I find it a bit amusing to find teams throwing it away at this late stage of the competition. Not just Villa but you get my gist

But in the pl this season its incredibly tight between 2nd and 4th (maybe 5th ) its anyone's game

I was just reading this and a few things.

Firstly what you say about Villa and its a bit folly. It realism on their part, they know that a top four spot is not a certainty and probably less of a certainty if they remained in the Uefa Cup. They have a small squad and they want to make it and that meant sacrificing the Uefa Cup.

You mention Milan, I don't know the current situation with injuries there, but I did notice that there was no Kaka, Ronaldinho and Shevchenko was on the bench. And that was only a brief look at the game a couple days ago, I think there were others missing as well, did Pirlo play?

eagle eye

I started a match thread for you guys. I think this match is far more interesting and important than the plastic cup otherwise known as the carling cup.

DSB

LOL @ Everton fans thinking they're going to get anywhere near 4th. They probably won't even be that close to 5th.

Esse85

Useless fcuking clowns. Our home form again is poor. Stoke took 4 points off us this season. Whats that a run of now, how many games without a win, and there's some very tough games coming up. This is turning into a disaster, why wont MON just play Shorey, Cuellar and Young in their natural positions and drop Gabby, fcuk sake we can all see these changes need to happen.

ctrl-alt-delete

eagle eye wrote: »

I started a match thread for you guys. I think this match is far more interesting and important than the plastic cup otherwise known as the carling cup.

And what if Blackburn were in the final?

On topic, Villa have messed up big time.

Neil3030

At 2-0 MON should have subbed (the absolutely useless) Gabby and brought on either NRC or Gardner to close out the game in 4-5-1. It really boils my blood that the win was comfortably there for the taking and either a mixture of tactical arrogance, ignorance or just plain small-mindedness cost us. If Gabby starts against City I will have lost a great deal of respect for MON. Put simply, he has absolutely no right to the Villa jersey after his performances of late, capped by his schoolboy showing today. Heskey and Big John, give them a run and let's see what happens.

Bounty Hunter

imas annoyed and despapointed as I was surprisingly happy last week, both weeks Arsenal gave us a chance to extended the gap but last week i was actually happy enough as we werent expected to beat Chelsea so Arsenal drawing means we dropped less points on them than expected this week we were expected to win, not only that but we had a 2-0 lead with not long to go and throw away what would have given us an 8pt lead in the race for the CL.

Gabby really needs a goal, and MON has to start considering his starting place if he continues to underperform. On his game he should start as Carew/Heskey are of a similar mould but hes not on his game and is still young/developing and could maybe do with not starting a game. I still expect him to start in the next game though and obviously hope he grabs a goal and can get back on his game

invincibleirish

Its typical Villa really.

With Man City on Wednesday its a case now of get over it and focus on Robinho n' Ireland. Take some positives i guess from today and see how we get on at COMS.

Then there'll be plenty of time to conduct the post mortem.

Esse85

I just watched the highlights there and Zat Knights defending for the 2nd goal was a disgrace, he was as slow to come out and close the shot down and when he finally got there, he turned sideways, really awful stuff.

One would also have to question the contribution Heskey has made so far, apart from the goal at Portsmouth, i dont recall him having any impact yet. He's almost playing as a 5th midfielder.

Savman

Pile of sh*t.

Helix

first half we were f*cking brilliant. played some bloody fantastic stuff

second half was nothing short of a shambles tho

wynters

You jinxed it again Helix!!!

'Need to play Cuellar with Davies in the centre and bring Shorey in in-place of Knight. At the end of the day Shorey is a better left full than Knight is centre half. Does anyone know how much longer NRC is out?

And Carew is more of a goal threat than Heskey.

On a positive note though, Arsenal have a game less to catch us up.

Savman

Going off on a much needed tangent: Petrov has surely got to be a shoe-in for Villa's player of the year?

He has been the best player in a Villa shirt week in week out this season.

Helix

gabby needs to be dropped anyway, for the foreseeable future til he sorts himself out

the chap is ****ing dreadful right now

petrov was absolutely immense again today

invincibleirish

Savman wrote: »

Going off on a much needed tangent: Petrov has surely got to be a shoe-in for Villa's player of the year?

He has been the best player in a Villa shirt week in week out this season.

+1

But who else would even be in contention? the 2 Youngs? Friedel?. Laursen is surely discounted seeing as he's missing a lot.

Not sure about Gabby, just not happening for him in front of goal. Can't do much until the summer unless the Carew-Heskey pairing works, could it?

Time Magazine

A ****e result. Some serious thought needed. We need to change that back four. Shorey is crap, but so is the Davies-Knight pairing. Curtis is making a lot of mistakes too, I wouldn't say he's a dead cert to keep his place. That said, I think we need to bring King Carlos in with Davies and play Shorey and Young against City. Bouma is hoping to start against Chelsea for the Reserves tomorrow, so he might be back to match fitness for the visit of Arry. Gabby needs to be dropped.

A disastrous result that felt like a loss. It feels bad to feel like a Villa fan again - the eternal last hurdle-fallers. However let's keep things in context. In "real" terms, by that I mean the fight for CL football, this weekend has been a success. Liverpool lost, Arsenal only matched our point and another week has past. We'd have all been happy had Villa, Arsenal and Liverpool all won and the outcomes of this week are probably even better than that.

But yes, Petrov for Player of the Season.

Helix

between petrov and luke young really, nobody else comes close. and even then stan is light years ahead