Aston Villa Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

therecklessone

Bounty Hunter wrote: »

well everyone wants Carew and nobody expects too many changes to the line-up so tbh id say if carew was swapped in for Heskey atm wed be happy, although Im not sure if weve won since we stopped playing 451 and if i had to just pick 1 villa striker atm it would be Carew and not Gabby

Should consider Gabby on the right wing IMO, Carew as lone striker and Barry/Petrov/Milner as a midfield 3 and Young on the left. He might not be scoring, but his pace is an asset that would help open up space on for Young to exploit on the other side.

Helix

eagle eye wrote: »

Is nobody willing to address the fact that he has played very well in all the games with Carew?

i would if it was true

Helix

therecklessone wrote: »

Should consider Gabby on the right wing IMO

what good is a right winger who cant beat a man, pass the ball or cross tho?

One Cold Hand

therecklessone wrote: »

Should consider Gabby on the right wing IMO, Carew as lone striker and Barry/Petrov/Milner as a midfield 3 and Young on the left. He might not be scoring, but his pace is an asset that would help open up space on for Young to exploit on the other side.

Helix wrote: »

what good is a right winger who cant beat a man, pass the ball or cross tho?

Yep Gabby's been tried on the right last year and it didn't work.
We have pace on one wing in Young, Milner is needed on the right for his crossing.

mirwillbeback

Just back from the game late last night so only getting to post now.

We were really one dimensional, we don't seem to have the creative midfielder who can spark a bit of genius to open games up.

Thought Petrov was pretty good on Sunday, Barry not at his best but oozes class whenever he gets the ball, always making space for himself. Milner was dire, Reo Coker impressed me on his return. Heskey very slow and awkward, Ashley Young was awful, never stopped moaning even when it was his mistake that cost us possession - and most defenders have him sussed now, keeping him on his right foot all the time, just showing him down the line all the time.

Gabby - very very poor and he gives off the air of arrogance that he doesn't care. i think that's the problem. I also wonder is there something going on that the locals know about ( he got bad press last year for getting 3 birds pregnant at the same time :eek: last year ) and I have a suspicion that they might think he's not putting the effort in off the pitch with his lifestyle. Booing not the answer.

Which brings me to...the crowd. Can't understand them, very critical of all the players and bringing too much pressure on them, I'm not surprised we're better away. And, 2 down, you score with 6 mins left and the crowd continue to leave? FFS, show some passion and get behind the lads, I couldn't believe it.

monkey9

Villa playing in the Peace Cup in July. Will be playing Real Madrid, Juve and i think AC Milan

JPA

monkey9 wrote: »

Villa playing in the Peace Cup in July. Will be playing Real Madrid, Juve and i think AC Milan

I read that earlier.
Excellent to get involved with some high profile teams rather than some part timers somewhere.

death1234567

Well season is over now, highest we can finish is 5th lowest is 6th.

rgiller

death1234567 wrote: »

Well season is over now, highest we can finish is 5th lowest is 6th.

:rolleyes:

mirwillbeback

death1234567 wrote: »

Well season is over now, highest we can finish is 5th lowest is 6th.

Not over by any means, sure we had to make it interesting

Arsenal away to Newcastle this weekend, not easy by any means so who knows, we could be 3 pts ahead or behind come Sunday, margins are very slim. I actually fancy us to get a draw at Liverpool this Sunday, and Arsenal to probably get the same at St James'.

I know we're looking poor lately, but we lost to Newcastle and Boro in November and I thought we were gone then too.

If the players were to feel like some fans do, that the season is over, then we really are fooked.

Neil3030

Looking very promising we'll see Freddie soon. Can't wait for his return:

O'Neill feels the return of left-back Wilfred Bouma after an eight month injury lay-off will be like having "a new signing" at his disposal.

Bouma is close to earning a first-team recall after dislocating his ankle in an Intertoto Cup clash with Odense in July.

He made his comeback in the recent reserve game with Chelsea although he did not play in last night's second string clash with West Ham.

O'Neill said: "Wilfred is chomping at the bit. He is ready to go. That reserve game (against Chelsea) has helped him but he still has a bit of work to do physically.

"We worked him in one versus one, two versus two and three versus three situations in the recent training camp in Dubai and he is raring to go again.

"Wilfred has been out all season after having a fantastic 2007-08 campaign. It's now up to him to recapture that.

"It won't happen overnight because he still has some work to do. But again, when he does return, it will genuinely feel like a new signing."

---

Friedel

---

-Young---Cuellar--Davis---Bouma-

---

NRC--Petrov--Barry

---

Milner

---

Young

---

The Big Fella

---

That team'd be far away removed from the holey bucket we've been fielding as of late. (By Big fella, I mean Carew btw)

Edit: I actually woulnd't mind seeing a 4-2-3-1 set up either:

---

Friedel

---

-Young---Cuellar--Davis---Bouma-

---

NRC

---

Petrov

---

Milner

---

Barry

---

Young

---

The Big Fella

---

slingerz

mirwillbeback wrote: »

Not over by any means, sure we had to make it interesting

Arsenal away to Newcastle this weekend, not easy by any means so who knows, we could be 3 pts ahead or behind come Sunday, margins are very slim. I actually fancy us to get a draw at Liverpool this Sunday, and Arsenal to probably get the same at St James'.

I know we're looking poor lately, but we lost to Newcastle and Boro in November and I thought we were gone then too.

If the players were to feel like some fans do, that the season is over, then we really are fooked.

Arsenal are finishing strongly though and with the players they have returning from injury they will win most of their games.

I think if Arsenal beat Villa to 4th you could see Barry going to London to play alongside Fabregas

death1234567

slingerz wrote: »

I think if Arsenal beat Villa to 4th you could see Barry going to London to play alongside Fabregas

I think if Arsenal beat Villa to 4th you could see Barry going to London to replace Fabregas who'll leave for Barca in the summer

Frisbee

death1234567 wrote: »

I think if Arsenal beat Villa to 4th you could see Barry going to London to replace Fabregas who'll leave for Barca in the summer

Fabregas will not leave this summer.
And absolutely no offence to the Villa fans, Barry is a very good player and invaluable to Villa, but Barry would go nowhere near replacing Fabregas imo.

death1234567

Frisbee wrote: »

but Barry would go nowhere near replacing Fabregas imo.

I agree, but The arse won't be able to attract anyone half as good as the spitter if/when he leaves.

L'prof

death1234567 wrote: »

I agree, but The arse won't be able to attract anyone half as good as the spitter if/when he leaves.

Really? I don't believe that to be true...we've never had a player as good as Fabregas before then?

death1234567

jasonorr wrote: »

Really? I don't believe that to be true

Name all the midfielders as good as or better than fabrgas in the world that would be available and/or would go to The Arse in the summer.


The answer is 0 in case you hadn't worked that out already...

Anyway this is a villa thread...no more "Arse-ing" about....get it??...I'll get my coat.

L'prof

death1234567 wrote: »

Name all the midfielders as good as or better than fabrgas in the world that would be available and/or would go to The Arse in the summer.

The answer is 0 in case you hadn't worked that out already...

Anyway this is a villa thread...no more "Arse-ing" about....get it??...I'll get my coat.

My point is, who the hell was Francesc Fàbregas Soler??? Oh yeah, that's right, I sure you had him pegged to be one of the best midfielders in the world before he played his first Arsenal game.

Yes this is a Villa thread, but surely I'm allowed to respond when someone makes assumptions about Arsenal that can neither be proven nor disproven, just as I occasionally respond to posts about Villa in general!

Doodee

Fàbregas has stated his intentions to stay with the Gunners and until that actually changes then it should be assumed so.

End of Discussion.


Back on Topic
I hope Freddie can capture his pre-injury form very soon.
A run about against Liverpool and Man U might give him whats needed, then we will have him back for the so called 'Easy' fixtures we have coming up.

Dear lord please make MON pick Carew ahead of the other two.

monkey9

Doodee wrote: »

I hope Freddie can capture his pre-injury form very soon.
A run about against Liverpool and Man U might give him whats needed, then we will have him back for the so called 'Easy' fixtures we have coming up/QUOTE]

I think Sky said yesterday he wouldn't be ready for the Liverpool match. Don't know how true that is though!

Neil3030

If anyone was a reader of the avfcblog.com, it's now moved to www.thevillablog.co.uk, fyi.

Neil3030

Monsie's view of the new clough film:

Link

Kinetic^

Rafa starting with the Gareth Barry crap already,

Raekwon

Kinetic^ wrote: »

Rafa starting with the Gareth Barry crap already,

Perfect, just what the Villa dressing room needs again :rolleyes:

Raekwon

I think Paul Merson sums up the current Villa situation quite well here:

Paul Merson wrote:

From now until the end of the season all Liverpool can do is keep going they way they are, and they should be capable of doing that on Sunday against a Villa side which is completely shell-shocked and has hit a brick wall.

Martin O'Neill has not won a game in March since he has been at Villa but - this season at least - it's not his fault: Villa should have gone out and bought five players in January.

At the start of the year Tottenham looked like getting relegated, so they went out and bought players who could make a difference. Villa should have done the same.

The owner is supposed to have a load of money, and his club might not be in a position like this for years and years and years.

To make it worse, when they did buy a player - Emile Heskey - it messed up a way they had of playing which worked.

They played 4-5-1 with James Milner and Ashley Young on the wings and Gabriel Agbonlahor up front. Even if one of the midfield three bombed forward to join them they still had two sitting in to deal with the counter-attack. It worked and they changed it.

The supporters got stick for booing the other day and I do feel sorry for Agbonlahor, who I think has punched above his weight all season and now just needs a rest. But in the stands, they see what has gone wrong and they're frustrated.

They've also seen their team come back to start their season in July so they could qualify for the UEFA Cup - which they stopped caring about just when it looked like they had a real chance of winning it.

They completely gave up on that tie against CSKA Moscow, and all of a sudden their results have gone downhill.

Now it is all about staying on Arsenal's coat-tails during this difficult run of fixtures, because after they face Liverpool, United and Everton they have a blinding run-in, while Arsenal's gets more difficult.

Helix

not sure how he maintains its not mons fault that he didnt sign anyone apart from heskey tho

invincibleirish

Merse is bang on the money in that article. Heskey has come in and done nothing, i taught he could do a job when he came in, but bar the Pompey goal he has flattered to deceive in the 442, as have several others.

**** the fsw

wynters

Kinetic^ wrote: »

Rafa starting with the Gareth Barry crap already,

Any links?

Villain

I'm going to the game Sunday but I'll be in the KOP, not really looking forward to it

death1234567

wynters wrote: »

Any links?

here

Merse is spot on in that article.

Helix

to be fair, theres nothing there in terms of quotes from benitez

just seems to be paper talk

x in the city

wouldn't be surprised to see MON leave this summer tbh, screwed up royally with the UEFA cup fiasco. I mean did he assume Villa were automatically going to get 4th at the time.

After Villa were dumped out of the UEFA cup and FA cup confidence went into free fall. The same happened Everton a few seasons ago, dumped out of the CL by Villareal and then lost in the UEFA cup to some eastern europeans.

And I stand by my verdict on Heskey, he is pretty useless and will never score more than 5 goals a season (if he is lucky..)

Villain

x in the city wrote: »

wouldn't be surprised to see MON leave this summer tbh, screwed up royally with the UEFA cup fiasco. I mean did he assume Villa were automatically going to get 4th at the time.

After Villa were dumped out of the UEFA cup and FA cup confidence went into free fall. The same happened Everton a few seasons ago, dumped out of the CL by Villareal and then lost in the UEFA cup to some eastern europeans.

And I stand by my verdict on Heskey, he is pretty useless and will never score more than 5 goals a season (if he is lucky..)

I think you need to look at Heskey's history, from what I can see he has scored more than 5 goals every season bar 1???

x in the city

Well, He is not a bad player, but he is most certainly not top 4/5/6 material.

In fact I think he is nationwide quality, his best days are behind him.

Im not having a go at Villa here, I think they did really well but they have shot themselves in the foot really. They have really difficult fixtures coming up also.

Villa 'concentrating' on the CL was quite a ridiculous thing to do tbh. I think Arsenal will finish 4th, they have the squad and experience to handle that no bother.

mirwillbeback

x in the city wrote: »

Villa 'concentrating' on the CL was quite a ridiculous thing to do tbh. I think Arsenal will finish 4th, they have the squad and experience to handle that no bother.

I'm not being smart, but Everton fans should focus on their own clubs ambitions instead of others. When you are only 4pts behind, surely 'concentrating' on us is not what you should be doing. :rolleyes:

MementoMori

Helix wrote: »

not sure how he maintains its not mons fault that he didnt sign anyone apart from heskey tho

I think it has to be put down as a failing on MON's part. I had some notion that he had spoken out against the January transfer window before and it does look like he has some sort of issues with it. Strange really when you consider that both Carew and Young were signed in the January transfer market.

O'Neill defends transfer policy
Saturday, 2 February 2008

Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill has defended his decision to only sign winger Wayne Routledge during the January transfer window.
O'Neill told BBC WM: "I could have filled the squad with people that probably wouldn't have got a game by this time next year.

"What was the point of giving people three or four-year contracts just because it was the January window?

"I'm not in favour of it, I don't think anybody is."

O'Neill added: "I don't know why the old system disappeared, it was absolutely perfect."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/a/aston_villa/7224247.stm

Helix

the thing about the jan transfer window that baffles me is why clubs never seem to (so far as we see) try to get their business done BEFORE the window opens

surely thats the most sensible way to do it... identify your targets and make your bids in december. id have thought youd be more likely to succeed then too, coz other teams know theres x amount of money on the table for player y, and they have time to start looking at replacements, giving them more time to decide if they want to sell

makes more sense to me than this bidding for players in the middle of jan

the window is only for when the players can move, not when you can bid. i think managers need to focus less on the 4 weeks in jan to do their business and more in the time before that

december should be when the actual business of buying players takes place

wynters

January was disappointing alright, and I don't know why we weren't in for Defoe aswell as Heskey if he was available...? Paul Scharner was another player we were rumoured to be tracking who wouldn't have cost the earth, would've fitted into the squad fairly well, and would have been a better option than Zat Knight over the past few months...

I love O'Neill, but my only criticism of him would be that he's too loyal to certain players sometimes... He's reluctant to use substitutions, he's not buying players to compete for positions, and the signing of Heskey was more based on their time together at Leicester than anything else. It certainly wasn't his goalscoring form anyway... (Actually, now that I think of it, how many of his former players has he brought to Villa now? Petrov, Sutton, Agathe, Maloney, and Heskey.... am I missing anyone there??? Arguably all good value for money at the time, and I do like the 'buy British' thing, but we need to cast the net a bit wider than a pool of trusted former players, and the domestic leagues when bodies are needed).

We needed a goal-scorer, and maybe some creativity in January and we might have attracted good players being 3rd in the league at the time... an opportunity missed perhaps.

Still though, there's no-one else I'd rather have in charge than MON! And despite my criticism, I still think we're very lucky to have him. He's not perfect, but who is.

Roll-on Sunday!!!!

mayordenis

Villain wrote: »

I'm going to the game Sunday but I'll be in the KOP, not really looking forward to it

I've been in the Holte End of Villa vs. Liverpool games - wear an inconspicuos top and try and stay quiet.

Mr Alan

O'Neill on the Barry situation wrote:

Martin O'Neill admits Gareth Barry could leave Aston Villa if the club fail to secure a top-four finish in the Premier League.

The England international appeared all set to move to Liverpool last summer, but the Reds refused to meet his £18million price tag.

Uncertainty continues to linger over his future, though, with Anfield still touted as a possible destination.

He only has just over 12 months left to run on his current deal at Villa Park and is keeping his options open until the 2008/09 campaign reaches its conclusion.

Should Villa snatch a UEFA Champions League spot he could stay but, should they fail in that quest, O'Neill accepts Barry may decide to take on a new challenge elsewhere.

"Will Liverpool come back in for Barry? I don't know," said O'Neill, who is set to go head-to-head with Rafa Benitez's title-chasing side on Sunday.

"This topic goes into a lull for a month and then comes back around again and I don't know how many times I've said the same thing.

"I don't know what Liverpool are thinking and it is not my concern at the moment.

"In the summertime - and I will repeat what I've said before - if we qualify for the Champions League, then subject to the terms (of a new contract) being right, I think there would be a decent chance that Gareth Barry would stay.

"There is nothing set in stone but that is what he has said himself and the agents have also indicated 'fine'.

"My stance has not changed. I said to him last year, with two years left of his contract to run, if he gave us another year, he could see where we are, see what we are doing.

"I don't think anyone would begrudge him leaving the club (if they fail to qualify for the Champions League) having given almost 11 years' service."

O'Neill added: "Gareth also would have one year left of his contract instead of two and so circumstances would change. That is the viewpoint and, if we didn't make it, we would look at a number of things.

"But, in Gareth's case, the chance to go and play at a club involved in the Champions League is not something I would probably begrudge him.

"I think he has enjoyed this season. I think the crowd have taken to him, I think he might have been concerned about that after the events of last summer.

"The crowd's overall picture is of the service he has given here and there is a genuine appreciation of what he has done at the club."

Sounds to me like MON is conceding that Barry will be leaving in the summer if yous don't get 4th.

Villain

Best of luck to him if he does, as I always said he won't get his place in a Big 4 side imo, certainly not good enough to bring Liverpool any closer to a PL title

Mr Alan

see i'd disagree there, i think taking the place of Mascherano and playing in a more advanced role around better players he'd be a massive help in opening up the teams that come to Anfield for a nil-all draw, which has been our undoing this year.

wynters

That Everton result is nice!

Scholes sent off for United, that's him and Vidic suspended for next week.

wynters

Mr Alan wrote: »

see i'd disagree there, i think taking the place of Mascherano and playing in a more advanced role around better players he'd be a massive help in opening up the teams that come to Anfield for a nil-all draw, which has been our undoing this year.

Oh I see! So Liverpool fans want him again now ...???!????? :rolleyes:

Talking him up when it looked like you'd get him last summer, then when the deadline passed, he was 'an average player' / not worth the money / Liverpool don't need him anyway / not as good as Alonso / "you can stick Gareth Barry up your ar$e!!!"...

... Liverpool fans make me laugh.

Btw, we're still after CL football ourselves incase you hadn't noticed.

Samurai

The gareth barry of last season should definitely start for liverpool

wynters

Samurai wrote: »

The gareth barry of last season should definitely start for liverpool

What does that even mean???

Helix

he means that in last seasons form barry was good enough to start for liverpool, which he was

in this seasons form hes probably not

i dunno if it was the whole thing last summer or what, but barry has definitely lost something from his performances. he used to be the only player you could rely on to pick the right ball, now it rarely happens

invincibleirish

I think the rise of Petrov has meant GBs role in the team has been diminished this season. No bad thing really.

Helix

invincibleirish wrote: »

I think the rise of Petrov has meant GBs role in the team has been diminished this season. No bad thing really.

yup, barry isnt a great partner for petrov and i think his departure will mean we can get in the creative central player we've been crying out for since merse

Mr Alan

wynters wrote: »

Oh I see! So Liverpool fans want him again now ...???!????? :rolleyes:

Talking him up when it looked like you'd get him last summer, then when the deadline passed, he was 'an average player' / not worth the money / Liverpool don't need him anyway / not as good as Alonso / "you can stick Gareth Barry up your ar$e!!!"...

... Liverpool fans make me laugh.

Btw, we're still after CL football ourselves incase you hadn't noticed.

where have i ever said any of the above? STOP MAKING **** UP!

also, big difference between spending 15-18m on a player and getting rid of potentially one of the best in Europe as a result, and spending 5-8m and adding to an already half decent centre midfield combo of Alonso/Mascherano/Lucas, not to mention Gaz Bazs best mate Gerrard.