Aston Villa Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2013/14

JPA

Patser wrote: »

Good to see do many names that were missing over that poor run reappearing from injury - Gabby, Bent, Baker and N'Zog all back - Baker in particular was a big loss

Also it'll be very interesting to see how Bent plays - will he go out to prove a point of to try attract interest from another club or just wing it up front alone and uninterested and prove Lambert's point about him

He's not up front on his own though.

Patser

JPA wrote: »

He's not up front on his own though.

I can see Bowery being asked to play like Weimann and basically cover the whole pitch.

Also (on a another note) was thinking about the transfer rumours. I figure that Lescott would solve nearly all our problems in one fell swoop. Imagine a back line of Lescott, Vlaar and Clark with Clark being asked to play in a DCM role and add strenght and bulk to our midfield. It's a role he's played before for Villa and was quite good at it and Lescott with Vlaar would be a very impressive defensive unit (Baker could fill in if Vlaar is injured for longer than expected - Baker has impressed me more in defence than Clark at times).

So in grabbing Lescott we's shore up defence quite well and also have a new midfield option.

JPA

Patser wrote: »

I can see Bowery being asked to play like Weimann and basically cover the whole pitch.

He's a target man type, he won't be doing that.
It's a 442.

Raekwon

Hopefully Darren Bent scores a hat trick against his old club, Shay Given keeps a clean sheet and saves a penalty and Nigel Reo-Coker misses said penalty and gets sent off

Patser wrote: »

Also (on a another note) was thinking about the transfer rumours. I figure that Lescott would solve nearly all our problems in one fell swoop. Imagine a back line of Lescott, Vlaar and Clark with Clark being asked to play in a DCM role and add strenght and bulk to our midfield. It's a role he's played before for Villa and was quite good at it and Lescott with Vlaar would be a very impressive defensive unit (Baker could fill in if Vlaar is injured for longer than expected - Baker has impressed me more in defence than Clark at times).

So in grabbing Lescott we's shore up defence quite well and also have a new midfield option.

I seriously doubt it will happen. A couple of media sources are claiming that we'd need to give Man City around £10million and pay Lescott £60k per week to secure his services. Randy Lerner wouldn't sanction that for a 30 year old defender with no sell on value, especially while we still have Richard Dunne on our books.

Plus Roberto Mancini recently stated that no players will be leaving City as he'll already be without Kolo & Yaya Touré because of The African Cup of Nations.

JPA

1 down.

listermint

Raekwon wrote: »

Hopefully Darren Bent scores a hat trick against his old club, Shay Given keeps a clean sheet and saves a penalty and Nigel Reo-Coker misses said penalty and gets sent off



I seriously doubt it will happen. A couple of media sources are claiming that we'd need to give Man City around £10million and pay Lescott £60k per week to secure his services. Randy Lerner wouldn't sanction that for a 30 year old defender with no sell on value, especially while we still have Richard Dunne on our books.

Plus Roberto Mancini recently stated that no players will be leaving City as he'll already be without Kolo & Yaya Touré because of The African Cup of Nations.

apparently QPR are in for lescott for 8mil

Corholio

1-1. Bent

Raekwon

1-1 Bent!

Gringo180

How are Villa playing? Do they look the most likely to go on and win the game?

OneColdHand

A draw is the last thing we need, imo.

Raekwon

Gabby on for Goal Machine so it looks like we are going for it.

JPA

Weimann scores, 2-1

matrim

2-1 Wiemann

Corholio

Thank feck. Last thing needed was another game.

Patser

Decent win and we were able to rest the likes of Benteke, Guzan and Weimann for the game while welcoming back some big names. Another win against Bradford on Tuesday and confidence might start creeping back.

As other slight plusses Wigan, QPR and Sunderland all have annoying replays ahead of them, while Southampton got a Chelsea hammering

OneColdHand

From BBC website:

TRANSFER LATESTManchester City defender Joleon Lescott has ben linked with a move away from the club this month but the 30-year-old England international is going nowhere.
In a statement released on Lescott's behalf by the player's spokesman tonight, it is clear he wants to remain with City.
"Joleon Lescott has ruled out the possibility of any loan move during the January transfer window," said the statement.
"Despite speculation linking him with several Premier League clubs, Joleon has no desire to leave Manchester City."

listermint

Millwall V Villa.


Il take that

Raekwon

Decent draw although anyone away from home will be tough.

I read that Lambert was full of praise for both Darren Bent & Shay Given after the game yesterday. They will probably both play in the League Cup game with Bradford on Tuesday but it will be interesting to see if they feature versus Southampton next weekend. Probably not.

We've also been linked to Lazio fullback Luis Pedro Cavanda who is a Belgian Under 21 international.

Doodee

http://www.sempreinter.com/23952/

Plz plz plz. Would be entertaining at least!

OneColdHand

Come on Villa!

Anyone have anywhere online to watch this?

ConorCBS

Villa XI: Given, Clark, Bennett, Baker, Lowton, Bannan, Delph, Weimann, N’Zogbia, Agbonlahor, Benteke.

Corholio

Glad Delph is playing tonight. Even though he hasn't been great this season, he's our only midfielder who'll get stuck in, something which Villa will need tonight I'm sure.

CSF

Jesus Coutinho is unreal. Why would he wanna join Villa?

Expecting a win tonight

Frankie Lee

CSF wrote: »

Jesus Coutinho is unreal. Why would he wanna join Villa?

It could be a bit like the time D'Alessandro joined Portsmouth on loan and played a huge part in keeping them up. His signing even just on loan would be fantastic

basillarkin

Villa in big trouble now

basillarkin

edit: away goal, hope they count

Savman

Holy jaysis.

CSF

Lambert can **** off if he tries to take any positives from this. Pathetic stuff and he should brand it as such.

Patser

This could be the game that Lambert loses the Villa faithful. We all made excuses against Chelsea but nothing can excuse that crap. Over Christmas we could see there was a crisis brewing, we could see the gaps and there has been nothing done to solve anything. Any confidence gained from the draw with Swansea and win against Ipswich is gone.

Bannon should not play again, we need a big, leader in midfield - not another youngste with potential, a big, strong leader. And I'll say this now I'd take Warnock back over Bennett

listermint

Whens N'Zogbia going ?

How the hell do we sell bent now ? cut price is it ??

CSF

If Lambert doesn't change his policy and get the players required to fix this, he can suffer the same fate as McLeish and Houllier. Disgraceful stuff.

listermint

CSF wrote: »

If Lambert doesn't change his policy and get the players required to fix this, he can suffer the same fate as McLeish and Houllier. Disgraceful stuff.

Trappatoni ftw

OneColdHand

basillarkin wrote: »

edit: away goal, hope they count

They don't.

Well they do, but they only count after extra time if you know what I mean.

In other words, I think if we win 2-0 in second leg it will still go extra time. But away goals count after extra time I think.

OneColdHand

I've trying to figure out why Lambert set the team up the way he did, but I can't. It was set up 4-3-3, with Bannan and N'Zogbia as 2 of our mids. So essentially we had no bite in midfield.

It's all well and good being positive, but when a team lacks confidence (and any kind of spine!), and you are playing the first leg away in a 2 legged tie, you just need to make sure you are not beaten. I don't care who the opposition is, if you only have 1 guy in midfield that can win the ball back, you are going to struggle. Especially with our shaky defence.

Don't understand it at all. Why not set it up with a 4-5-1, be happy with a draw, and maybe even snatch a win? Not terribly glamorous, but would get the job done.

Worried for the rest of the season.

astonaidan

Seriously depressed right now, the one thing I was looking foward to all year was a trip to wembley

kilburn

The team was set up in a 4-2-3-1 formation either way we need serious strength in this transfer window as I am starting to fear the worst

LeBash

When we get Vlaar back things will steady, we created a ton of chances and I recken we will have new midfielder in during this window to toughen up the centre. We will stay up and need to give the manager time to develop the team. Lambert has had one window and it backfired buying youth and he will add a little experience.

Don't forget we have a small squad and a lot of injuries this season.

CSF

LeBash wrote: »

When we get Vlaar back things will steady, we created a ton of chances and I recken we will have new midfielder in during this window to toughen up the centre. We will stay up and need to give the manager time to develop the team. Lambert has had one window and it backfired buying youth and he will add a little experience.

Don't forget we have a small squad and a lot of injuries this season.

If he doesn't bring in experience he should go at the end of the year whether the club stays up or not, because taking those sort of risks is just pure and utter negligence.

Ronan Raver77

Missed most of the match how small is the squad anyway lads compared to the other PL teams? sorry haven't been on here much lately.The depressing results I cannot even talk about Villa recently :mad:

Raekwon

How the hell didn't we score more toinight? Benteke could have easily had a hattrick and Bent practically missed an open goal.

Our defence and midfield are an absolute shambles though. We really need Vlaar back and two full backs that can actually defend. I mean where was Bennett for the second goal? Totally lost his man and they had a free header in the six yard box. I cannot believe these clowns play in the Premiership.

Its ridiculously obvious now but if we don't strengthen the squad in the next three weeks then we are screwed. All we need is a midfield general and a pair of competent full backs and a minor miracle.

shoutman

Certainly the wost thing about this evenings game were that Bradford wholeheartedly deserved the win. They looked like they had more quality than us.

A League two side with better quality than a premiership side, we are in serious trouble (and that's the first time I have ever said this).

Corholio

One of the worst things about tonight was that Bradford weren't one of those lower league teams that are very physical towards higher teams and try and show them up, they actually tried to play and at the same time also got stuck in. Bennett, Lowton, Bannan, Clark, Gabby were all utter ****e. Zog at least tried to make something happen, thought should have tried to get him the ball more. It may sound harsh but somebody needs to take Benteke aside and show him how to defend corners, been a few games where he's lost his man like that.

Saying that, felt sorry for him up there trying to control balls fired up in the air to him by either Clark or Bannan. There's 3 ****in men in the centre of midfield and we kept hitting long balls! Lambert hasn't a clue what his best team is IMO. Wiemann's getting a raw deal being played out on the right, because to be honest, before he scored you'd hardly know he was playing at all. If Lambert isn't gonna play a finisher like Bent up there, then he has to go with Wiemann, not throw him out on the right and hope he runs a lot. Funnily enough, the worst I felt after a league cup game with Villa was the first leg in the '94 first leg loss to Tranmere 3-1. We all know what happened in the second leg.

OneColdHand

Corholio wrote: »

It may sound harsh but somebody needs to take Benteke aside and show him how to defend corners, been a few games where he's lost his man like that.

Yeah, Lambert does! Our defending is awful and he needs to sort if out! This should have been sorted out ages ago!

BaronVon

Corholio wrote: »

Zog at least tried to make something happen, thought should have tried to get him the ball more.

I actually think he was the worst player on the pitch. Their second goal summed him up perfectly. He got the ball with a very good turn, dribbled forward, got crowded out, and attempted a long range shot. Shot easily blocked, Bradford counter attacked and got a corner.

He has absolutely no end product, possibly one of Villa's worst ever signings!

wynters

The team badly needs 2 players at centre half and centre mid. Preferably an older pro with good character who the younger players would look up to. Someone like Scott Parker would be ideal...

Getting Vlaar back should help. Then perhaps recall Hutton and Warnock from loans (They can't be any worse than Lowton and Bennett on current form can they? and a taste of the lower leagues might have given them the kick they needed...)

... and please start playing Given ahead of Guzan. No keeper who ships 15 goals in 3 games deserves to keep his place.

Too many rookie errors costing us goals.

Corholio

infacteh wrote: »

I actually think he was the worst player on the pitch. Their second goal summed him up perfectly. He got the ball with a very good turn, dribbled forward, got crowded out, and attempted a long range shot. Shot easily blocked, Bradford counter attacked and got a corner.

He has absolutely no end product, possibly one of Villa's worst ever signings!

In fairness in the first half he had a shot, weak admittedly, and had a great run to set up a good chance for Gabby. Yes he did run down blind alleys in second half and doesn't get his head up, but worst player on the pitch he wouldn't be even in the top 5 tonight IMO.

Corholio

wynters wrote: »

The team badly needs 2 players at centre half and centre mid. Preferably an older pro with good character who the younger players would look up to. Someone like Scott Parker would be ideal...

Getting Vlaar back should help. Then perhaps recall Hutton and Warnock from loans (They can't be any worse than Lowton and Bennett on current form can they? and a taste of the lower leagues might have given them the kick they needed...)

... and please start playing Given ahead of Guzan. No keeper who ships 15 goals in 3 games deserves to keep his place.

Too many rookie errors costing us goals.

I would recall Warnock too, Bennett is that much of a liability at the moment. I'd leave Hutton where he is and play Lichaj at right back, I cannot fathom how Lowton, Bennett and Herd play full back positions ahead of him, he's better than all of them in those positions.

Centre mid MUST be the first place to shore up though. I was always a big fan of Stans, but I don't think we quite knew how much we'd miss him when he's not playing.

Raekwon

wynters wrote: »

Then perhaps recall Hutton and Warnock from loans (They can't be any worse than Lowton and Bennett on current form can they?)

I was just thinking this earlier while watch the match. Hutton and Warnock are both back from their loans and I never thought I'd ever say this but I'd have them both straight back in the team against Southampton on Saturday. Lowton and particularly Bennett were turned inside out by players from three divisions below them. Not Championship players, not League One players but League Two players. They should be totally embarrassed by their pathetic performances!

Bradford were worth their win though but this is the same Bradford team that got beaten 2-0 by Barnet on Saturday. BARNET! A team that are five places and four points away from a place in Non League football. Words can't describe the absolute and utter disgust that I feel right now.

JPA

I have to give up on Bannan and Delph. Simply lacking in any footballing intelligence and yet we have nearly nobody else.

LeBash

Raekwon wrote: »

Bradford were worth their win though but this is the same Bradford team that got beaten 2-0 by Barnet on Saturday. BARNET! A team that are five places and four points away from a place in Non League football. Words can't describe the absolute and utter disgust that I feel right now.

They had a weak team out according to the commentator last night. This is a team that knocked a strong Arsenal and a full strenght Wigan out of the this cup.

I hate to say it but I'd rather be out. I don't think any player will stick their foot in where it hurts in the 2-3 weeks leading up to the final. Which will be disaster for our league position.