Aston Villa Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

Kinetic^

http://veetle.com/viewChannel.php?cid=49dd52c1ec520

DSB

Super goal from Heskey:D

fullstop

**** me the defence looks dodgy

Bounty Hunter

so nice to see Villa leading a match again

Esse85

Any other links?

matrim

It's on setanta ireland if you have that

Kinetic^

Decent start so far, another goal would be nice though. No short of chances.

Esse85

Heskey you plank

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Are villa playing one to eleven, or with squad numbers?

matrim

Des wrote: »

Are villa playing one to eleven, or with squad numbers?

I think it's one to eleven, because of the shirt change before the game.

You'll also be happy that there was a foul throw given in the game

_blank_

matrim wrote: »

I think it's one to eleven, because of the shirt change before the game.

thanks

matrim wrote: »

You'll also be happy that there was a foul throw given in the game

Did you have a different name before?

invincibleirish

Good game to watch although i still see it being 1-1. what kitman eejits are employed by WH? don't they know when they come to the home of the Claret & Blue they have to change?

Kinetic^

Who are the new defenders that are going to come in this summer?

matrim

Des wrote: »

thanks



Did you have a different name before?

No. Was always matrim

Esse85

A clean sheet would be brilliant, im not confident though.

Kinetic^

Another goal now please.

Kinetic^

Jesus, how did WH not score there!

Esse85

Fcuking hell

fullstop

Same fcuking **** every week :rolleyes:

DSB

Twas pure and utter domination and all.

Kinetic^

Booooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Esse85

5/17 home wins so far. Pathetic.

Im so sick of MON and his rubbish signings right now.

DSB

Seriously, get rid of those jokes and start a new defence from scratch. Nothing without Laursen.

shoutman

Really is brutal, 3 points from a possible 33.

The last half hour when we were one nil up it was as if we were playing with a 4-0 lead, nobody tracking back nobody putting the effort in.

Barry and Petrov were the notable exceptions.

Nickey Shorey looked like a bad championship player today.

Mr Alan

what happened?

Esse85

Mr Alan wrote: »

what happened?

The same thing that happened ye during the week, we drew and it wasnt good enough.

Bounty Hunter

If we could defend without Laursen we would be dangerous. i feel like i did after the stoke game again, we were better but threw away a lead and instead any Villa fans who still thought there was a glimmer of hope at catching Arsenal now know better. There were positives today but after the last half hour its hard to focus on them atm

I fear a similar investment to last year will have to be made again in playing staff if we are going to continue trying to improve season on season as we have since MON/Lerner have arrived.

I really miss Martin Laursen

shoutman

Imagine for a minute if we had a back line of Mellberg Laursen Cuellar Bouma all fit and playing well, dreams....

Similar investment will be needed, unfortunately a few of MON's past signings have been poor to drastic.

JPA

4-4-2 is rare in the modern game and without a pure defensive midfielder which Petrov is not, you'll be in trouble. NRC must have done something bad.

Bounty Hunter

tbh ive never been too critical of MONs signings but excluding max a winger and rb I think he now needs to 100% focus on bringing in players to go straight into the first team instead of strenghten the squad. A lot will depend on Laursens retirement decision too, as if he leaves we will def need a first class CB signing (we may need to get a CB anyway incase) aswell as having to possibly replace Barry and thats before even looking to improve the squad.

Esse85

Lerner would have every right to tell MON he's not getting a big purse to spend this summer. History has proved he wastes millions on donkeys.

The amount of money he's had to spend is crazy compared to David Moyes, yet compare both squads.
When A.Young doesnt perform(which he hasnt since he's been sent off) it's hard to see where the goals will come from. The defense was shocking today but the attack was just as bad in not taking their chances.

x in the city

The Toffees will nail on 5th at the way Villa are playing lately id say.

Mr Alan

Esse, you might be quite surprised if you check out Dignity Daves spending while he has been at Everton. He has had cash & made some awful buys.

O'Neill is doing good work at Villa, as much as i don't like the man.

Neil3030

Man that was irritating, but promising in that a decent overhaul to our defense should see a drastic improvement. Barry is clearly playing out of his skin as he knows he's in the shop window, but as I've said before, in Petrov, both Youngs, Friedel, Milner and Carew we have the backbone of a solid team to kick on next year.

x in the city

Mr Alan wrote: »

Esse, you might be quite surprised if you check out Dignity Daves spending while he has been at Everton. He has had cash & made some awful buys.

O'Neill is doing good work at Villa, as much as i don't like the man.

The awful buys from Moyes are few and far between, the only real lemon was that per kolrup guy.

Lescott/Cahill/Jags/Arteta have been astounding signings, Cahill probably the best signing by any manager in the last decade.

DSB

Esse85 wrote: »

Lerner would have every right to tell MON he's not getting a big purse to spend this summer. History has proved he wastes millions on donkeys.

Not really, if he doesn't trust O'Neill he should sack him. Personally I trust him for the job, and I reckon if we don't let too many of our first team squad go, sell on Osbourne, Salifou, Gardner, Harewood, and Knight, plus Barry if he wants to go, sign in an attacking centre midfielder with a bit of flair like what the Everton lads have, give our defense a complete revamp using the players we already have as squad players, and stick with our strikers, giving the Fonzy more first team opportunities, then progress can start to be made, the problem with this season was there really wasn't that much progress in regards the team. Milner was probably the only signing this season that really improved the standard of the team, as opposed to just giving us more options.

Esse85

It seems so clear to everyone that Petrov and Barry are too lightweight to play in a 442, yet MON doesnt see this. I know 451 at home is a little negative but id really like to see this for the remainder of the season.

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Friedal

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Young

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Cuellar

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Davies

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Shorey

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-NRC

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Petrov

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Barry

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Milner

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Young

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Carew

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No doubt Heskey will start every game now though!

Helix

DSB wrote: »

sell on Osbourne, Salifou, Gardner, Harewood, and Knight, plus Barry if he wants to go

thatd mean we'd be looking to bring in 10 players to increase the squad depth to a decent level

Helix

Esse85 wrote: »

---

Friedal

---

Young

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Cuellar

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Davies

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Shorey

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-NRC

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Petrov

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Barry

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Milner

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Young

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Carew

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id play something similar, but push nrc into barrys position, put barry on the left wing and play ash behind carew

itd be worth a shot and itd let us know if youngy can do a job in there. if he can, then he could be barrys replacement and we can buy a left winger instead

JPA

We don't need an overhaul IMO. We just need the players to step it up which I believe they can. Leadership and confidence is what is lacking.
The leadership of Laursen and the lack of confidence from a winless run.

If Laursen is gone, we need a big signing to replace him. Who that is, I don't know. But he needs to be a leader.

JPA

Helix wrote: »

id play something similar, but push nrc into barrys position, put barry on the left wing and play ash behind carew

itd be worth a shot and itd let us know if youngy can do a job in there. if he can, then he could be barrys replacement and we can buy a left winger instead

Since when is Barry's position behind the striker?

Helix

JPA wrote: »

Since when is Barry's position behind the striker?

since when did i say it was?

when barry goes we need a new midfielder, preferably a creative one who can open things up to replace him. if young can play in the hole, then he'll save us spending on a barry replacement because we can reshuffle with what we have already and focus firming up the defence and bringing in a left winger instead

JPA

Helix wrote: »

since when did i say it was?

when barry goes we need a new midfielder, preferably a creative one who can open things up to replace him. if young can play in the hole, then he'll save us spending on a barry replacement because we can reshuffle with what we have already and focus firming up the defence and bringing in a left winger instead

Fair enough so. No guarantee Barry will leave though.

Helix

i agree, most likely because i cant see a huge amount of teams knocking our door down for him

still think hes ready made for arsenal

JPA

Helix wrote: »

i agree, most likely because i cant see a huge amount of teams knocking our door down for him

still think hes ready made for arsenal

You might but Arsene doesn't if you read his interview recently where he said alonso or Barry would have killed his youngsters.

DSB

Helix wrote: »

thatd mean we'd be looking to bring in 10 players to increase the squad depth to a decent level

The players I've mentioned bar Barry and possibly Knight aren't good enough to be even squad players in a side that wants to challenge for CL football. If 10 players its whats needed to sort the squad out, then Lerner needs to open the chequebook and O'Neill needs to go get them, otherwise we should have been taking the EURO Cup seriously in the first place.

Helix

yeah but lets be honest, would you trust mon to bring in 10 players in the summer? would lerner trust mon to bring in 10 players in the summer?

right about now poor randy must be wondering why the bloody hell that back 5 cost him over £30m

matrim

I think there are 2 main problems with out defense.

1. Neither Davies or Culleur are leaders. They are good defenders but not the type to step up and attack the ball when needed. You need at least 1 player like that in your central pairing

2. Not enough support from midfield. We give teams too much time to pick up the ball outside our box and pick a pass. We also don't seem to close down runners from midfield enough.

DSB

Helix wrote: »

yeah but lets be honest, would you trust mon to bring in 10 players in the summer? would lerner trust mon to bring in 10 players in the summer?

right about now poor randy must be wondering why the bloody hell that back 5 cost him over £30m

If Lerner doesn't have the confidence, he knows what to do. I've grown gradually more confident in O'Neill's transfer prowess. He has consistently made the club a more attractive prospect for players to join so thats massive in itself.

Helix

DSB wrote: »

I've grown gradually more confident in O'Neill's transfer prowess.

i had somewhat, but their performances have been very very disappointing

friedel: not the keeper he used to be
shorey: improving, but nowhere up to first team standard
young: cant really argue with his signing, hes been brilliant
cuellar: played out of position for most of the season, now looks like he cant remember how to play center back
davies: back to looking like a pub player
milner: cant fault that one
heskey: dont rate the lump in the slightest. his signing forced a change to our system which played a part in a sub par run
guzan: looks like he'll be a good signing in a few years to come
sidwell: has looked absolutely dreadful

now, thats 9 players signed since the end of last season with a lot of money spent, and only 2 of them who have performed to any sort of level that would have you not considering replacements again this summer

thats not good enough

hopefully its just a case of adjusting for them all, but i suspect there might be more to it