Aston Villa Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

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invincibleirish wrote: »

Yep, We choked. It seems that as soon as MON started talking seriously about the CL it all went to pot.

Its not over yet for 4th, but academic at this stage if Villa lose today imo.

It wasn't because MON started talking about CL. It was because we changed from a relatively easy set of matches playing 4-5-1 to relatively harder matches playing 4-4-2.

Assume we lose today, we're 6 points behind. We're still in with a chance if Arsenal drop points to Chelsea, Liverpool and Man United and it's very possible they'll drop at least six from them. We've got Everton, West Ham, Bolton, Hull, Fulham, Boro and Newcastle. It's possible.

JPA

Savman wrote: »

We had it, we blew it.

We never had and we still haven't blown it. IMO.

invincibleirish

I admire your optimism The Economist, but i just can't see us making up a 6 point gap on Arsenal with 7 games left. Yes its possible, particularly with Arsenal due at Old Trafford & Anfield, but the Villa defence is vulnerable and goals have been hard to come by recently so we can't take for granted Villa picking up 3 points against Everton or West Ham at home or Fulham away for example. I hope i'm proved wrong.

All i can say is Laursen we miss you!:(.

Savman

JPA wrote: »

We never had and we still haven't blown it. IMO.

Blind faith huh. Bless.

Helix

invincibleirish wrote: »

Yep, We choked. It seems that as soon as MON started talking seriously about the CL it all went to pot.

Its not over yet for 4th, but academic at this stage if Villa lose today imo.

if we come out of the everton game less than 7 points behind arsenal, we still have a shot at 4th imo

with them still to play united, chelsea, liverpool and everton, they really could drop a bucketload of points in the run in

x in the city

haha

Man U are cracking up now...tut tut

Esse85

Where do we go from here?

Thats heartbreaking stuff. Im gutted.

I do hope United go on to win the league now.

Villain

I predicted 6th a good while ago could well happen now

Helix

Esse85 wrote: »

Where do we go from here?

Thats heartbreaking stuff. Im gutted.

I do hope United go on to win the league now.

well every one of us had written off this game in advance anyway, i think we can take a little solace from the fact that we were the best team by far for 79 minutes today at old trafford

arsenal are 6 ahead of us with united, chelsea, liverpool and everton to play, so its absolutely essential we beat everton next week to keep us on the gunners coat tails. if we dont, thats it, no doubt about it

Savman

Jesus. It hurts.

Doodee

Man im depressed.

Still wondering how there was 5 mins of extra time.
Sometimes its just too hard to be a Villa fan

Villain

It does hurt but after the last few games I can think MON can take some positives from that game. Heskey can stay injured or on the bench Carew is our main man, the main problem is Laursen and Bouma missing we didn't buy enough quality to cover those losses, Cuellar is good but Davies is not at the same class as Laursen.

Keep the heads up I do think we could well still go on a run and win the rest of games, unlikely but possible

Esse85

Helix wrote: »

well every one of us had written off this game in advance anyway, i think we can take a little solace from the fact that we were the best team by far for 79 minutes today at old trafford

arsenal are 6 ahead of us with united, chelsea, liverpool and everton to play, so its absolutely essential we beat everton next week to keep us on the gunners coat tails. if we dont, thats it, no doubt about it

But to lose the way we did is a severe kick in the arse.

At least after the Liverpool game, we couldnt play any worse.

That defeat is a serious moral blow.

Whats the run without a win now?

invincibleirish

Please get well soon Martin

LuckyLloyd

Esse85 wrote: »

Where do we go from here?

Seven defeats and two draws over the past two months. The completeness of the collapse is what is most surprising - I think many would have predicted a fall off in form at some point. But wow.

invincibleirish

Esse85 wrote: »

Whats the run without a win now?

9 in all competitions 6 in the league.

Guy:Incognito

Savman wrote: »

Jesus. It hurts.

Hurts more from where I'm sitting.:(

It was looking so promising there for a minute

Villain

5th would still be a good season, sure we had our chance to get 4th from Arsenal's poor run but we don't have the squad to maintain that sort of run, we are building and if we can hold onto our young players we can build oh and Petrov he's really shown his class

Savman

JPA wrote: »

We never had and we still haven't blown it. IMO.

So, you were saying?

x in the city

invincibleirish wrote: »

9 in all competitions 6 in the league.

Or since MON said Villa were concentrating on the CL...:rolleyes:

Villain

x in the city wrote: »

Or since MON said Villa were concentrating on the CL...:rolleyes:

Jesus x in the city I think we may get you an award for your great contributions to this thread.

I mean we could go into the Everton thread and laugh at how bad Villa have played and how many points we have thrown away and yet we're still ahead of Everton lol

Paul Tergat

Have to say you were by far the better team today imo.

Villa deserved the 3 points, they took the game to us and on every counter attack you looked so dangerous.

Unlucky lads.

x in the city

Villain wrote: »

Jesus x in the city I think we may get you an award for your great contributions to this thread.

I mean we could go into the Everton thread and laugh at how bad Villa have played and how many points we have thrown away and yet we're still ahead of Everton lol

exactly, but thats karma for you

Villa throwing this season UEFA cup to concentrate on the CL

and end up battling to qualify for next seasons UEFA cup..

MON got totally carried away back then when ye were 2 points off the top

Helix

x in the city wrote: »

and end up battling to qualify for next seasons UEFA cup..

6th in the league is guaranteed uefa cup football, and likely 7th too

theres literally no chance we're in anything resembling a "battle" to qualify for it

Savman

Yeah yeah, UEFA cup sacrelige, we get it. Are you gonna add anything new to that tired argument? Gloat if you wish, but it would be foolish to assume your own club are immune to a bad run of form.

Anyway I don't care about Everton. Certainly don't care about Liverpool. Villa's season is hanging in the balance and the team has taken a pounding lately. That winning goal was top drawer stuff, there is no defending against it, period.

The collapse in the last 20mins, just like the collapse of the team in general, was horrible to watch. Balls to it all.:rolleyes:

villains77

is it true the laursen is out for the rest of the season as read in the villa website on the sunday papers? dont normally believe what i read but if he is were f''''d for 4th spot if we lose on sunday against everton we can forget it. really hope we do get 4th spot. still 5th isnt to bad a season.

Anybody going to hull game. myself and mate is going over since it my bday that weekend. should be fun.

Helix

villains77 wrote: »

is it true the laursen is out for the rest of the season as read in the villa website on the sunday papers? dont normally believe what i read but if he is were f''''d for 4th spot if we lose on sunday against everton we can forget it. really hope we do get 4th spot. still 5th isnt to bad a season.

Anybody going to hull game. myself and mate is going over since it my bday that weekend. should be fun.

yeh larusen probably wont play again this season, and apparently its up in the air whether he's ever gonna play again

Bounty Hunter

15-20mins annd i went from thinking we were well and truely in a CL race to having to listen to X in the citys same post from after every recent villa dissapointment, ugh life as a Villa fan eh, wouldent trade it for anything :pac:

Helix wrote: »

yeh larusen probably wont play again this season, and apparently its up in the air whether he's ever gonna play again

Martin Laursen will end his career at Villa imo I just hope its later rather than sooner.

Helix

Bounty Hunter wrote: »

Martin Laursen will end his career at Villa imo I just hope its later rather than sooner.

he cant seem to get past a certain point in his recovery without his knee going again

unfortunately, i think we might see him retire in the summer

monkey9

I thought Villa were unlucky today. They put in a great performance and just tired out the last ten minutes or so.
It's gonna be a tough one to take, but the club should take heart from the performance instead of being deflated by the sucker punch at the end.
To be honest, the match against Everton is probably the best match you's could have. It's a great match to win and could get your season back on track. Arsenal still have the top three to play!!!

JPA

Savman wrote: »

So, you were saying?

I don't inhabit the world you do.
I always thought we would lose this game.
If we don't win next sunday I will concede defeat for 4th though.

Fenix

Unlucky today lads, realy thought you put in a good preformance and only for 2 pieces of serious skill you wouldv'e had 3 points. With Laursen and Bouma back and barry hiting form (Agbons goal bound to help his confidence too) I think you'll be out of your slump next week.

Hopefully we can do one against the gooners for ye's !

DSB

Its not over lads. 6 point gaps get turned over all the time, and Arsenal have a daunting fixture list to come. Getting to the Champions League was never gonna be easy, and if the character isn't there to turn this around then ya can forget about competing in the CL. Still in it, and I'm confident, a win next week, to turn the form around, and start picking up some points when Arsenal drop some against the big 3.

monkey9

I can't wait for the Villa Everton match. I honestly think it's the best match you's could have after this. After the disappointment of today for you's, it's better to have this rather than having an away match at Hull or something.
I can see this being another three two either way

OPENROAD

DSB wrote: »

Its not over lads. 6 point gaps get turned over all the time, and Arsenal have a daunting fixture list to come. Getting to the Champions League was never gonna be easy, and if the character isn't there to turn this around then ya can forget about competing in the CL. Still in it, and I'm confident, a win next week, to turn the form around, and start picking up some points when Arsenal drop some against the big 3.

More or less 7 points, that said still lots of football to be played, that said Villa will also drop points imo.

villains77

didnt see the goals from yesterday as had my own match. heard we played some great footie. hope we get back to winning ways v everton. really want to get champions league footie this season. alltough finishing 5th isnt to bad either compared to the last few seasons. we were lucky to survive the drop a few years ago under o'dreary and look at where we are some major improvements i must say. still dont know why we bought only heskey. dont rate him that much compared to what we got allready and the slump in form started as soon as we reverted to 4 4 2 to play him. if we didnt switch from 4 5 1 where would we be now who knows

villains77

I can see this being another three two either way[/quote]


for villa i hope

invincibleirish

Hopefully the performance (and not the result or leaky defence) will jolt the season back into life. Fingers crossed.

invincibleirish

Stilian Petrov believes he is finally showing his best form for Aston Villa and insists that he never lost faith in his ability, even when he was dropped last season.


The Bulgaria midfielder struggled in his first 18 months with Villa after a £6m move from Celtic in summer 2006, but he started to come to grips with the Premier League at the end of last season and has shone in Villa's push for a Champions League spot this time out.


"It wasn't a good start for me at Villa," said Petrov. "People expected more and I didn't produce, which was frustrating for me and for them. It was up to me to change people's thinking.


"I came here as a good player and that was how I wanted people to regard me. But I never stopped believing and now I'm showing what I can really do."


"It's important for any player never to lose faith. It's up to every individual to keep his place and for a while last season I was out of the team. I was determined it wouldn't stay that way so I just kept working and I waited for my chance. When it came, I knew I had to start proving I could play."


Martin O'Neill, Villa's manager, has spoken highly of Petrov in recent weeks and the midfielder is a strong contender for the club's player of the year award. But Petrov knows the most important thing is to help revive Villa's fading hopes of a top-four finish. Arsenal are six points ahead of the Birmingham club.


"It's flattering when the manager says nice things about you but, if you take too much notice you can forget what is needed to be successful," said Petrov. "We really want to achieve something for the fans. If we can get into the Champions League, that would be fantastic.


"I will be happy if we achieve what we aimed for at the start of the season – a top-four place. We know it will be hard for us but we want to move this club forward and it's up to us to do that over the next few games."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/apr/08/stilian-petrov-aston-villa

Good to hear it, now sign him up!

Savman

A class act. £6.5m seems a bargain now tbh.

Neil3030

F**king load of b**ls, O'Neill Hit with FA Charge

Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill has been charged with improper conduct by the Football Association, following his behaviour towards referee Mike Riley after the defeat to Manchester United on Sunday.

Villa had led 2-1 at one stage but lost the match 3-2 after conceding a late goal when teenager Federico Mancheda scored a stoppage-time winner.

O'Neill later claimed Riley missed a foul on Ashley Young in the build-up to Macheda's winner.

He said after the match: "The officials also got three offside decisions wrong when we were clean through."

The FA have confirmed that the charge relates to O'Neill's behaviour in the immediate aftermath of the match, rather than his critical comments.

The Northern Irishman marched onto the pitch at the final whistle to confront Riley, and it is that action which has landed the Villa boss in trouble with the authorities.

He has until Monday, April 27 to respond to the FA's charge.

So.. if he has until the 27th to respond, that means he can write one letter every three days for the suitable response of:

F*CK YOU

invincibleirish

Whatever about the 5 mins of injury time, at least one of the offside calls was wrong. Hopefully the injustice of it all will lead to extra motivation, we need a win on Saturday, its now or never.

JPA

invincibleirish wrote: »

Whatever about the 5 mins of injury time, at least one of the offside calls was wrong. Hopefully the injustice of it all will lead to extra motivation, we need a win on Saturday, its now or never.

I hope we win Sunday too!

villains77

hope we win. need a good win to boost our confidence.


COME ON VILLA

invincibleirish

JPA wrote: »

I hope we win Sunday too!

Its more then hope we need, we gotta pray



Come on Villa

JPA

invincibleirish wrote: »

Its more then hope we need, we gotta pray



Come on Villa

I was subtly correcting you ya know!

invincibleirish

Too subtle for me JPA, i'm worn out leave me be!

Savman

Arsenal go to Wigan Saturday, so by kick off on Sunday we could (and most likely will) be 9pts behind them.

But hey if we're gonna kid ourselves, what the hell...Come on the Villa.

wynters

I dunno... Bruce has a decent record against Wenger. Wigan will make it very tough, and Arsenal's record in games immediately after CL away fixtures is not good.

PLUS! Gallas is out for the season now, Almunia is expected to be out for at least a few weeks, and Clichy will definitely miss the Wigan game... With a second-string defence, those games against Liverpool, Chelsea and United look a lot harder for them now!

It's not over yet!

Come on Villa!!!

Savman

Strange one this...

O'Neill said: "If the results are not there, everybody knows the consequences.
"At the end of the day, if the team has not made real, proper progress in that time then I will review the situation.

http://www.premierleague.com/page/Headlines/0,,12306~1621939,00.html