MessiWillSignForVilla

Yeah, the 36,000 Spurs fan that go to WHL As for people "over reacting", I don't think anyone has stated anything over the top. They were poor today, and they haven't been fantastic in their last two games either (not counting Dinamo Tbilisi, Villa would probably beat them too). And considering a lot of people have been tipping them for the Title or at least to challenge for it, I don't think it's harsh to say that judged on recent games, that currently seems a bit off. I think they will challenge for top 4, after we beat Arsenal, I'd have said they were nailed on for 4th, but Liverpool have been very difficult to beat so far and our win v Arsenal seems to be a blip for them. They haven't scored from open play yet, and with the midfielders they have and their £26m striker, that's pretty poor, and they seem somewhat toothless without Bale. When the gel, they'll get that bite back in attack, but they're currently paying the price for signing too many players at once. And that price isn't huge as they've still won 2 of their first 3.

Only as back up, Giroud has been awesome for them so far, 4 in 5 I think. As I seem to have said about a billion times over the last three pages, that player they need if they want to challenge for the title again is a CM willing to do the dirty work but can join in in attack too. Wouldn't mind if they didn't though, it would be brilliant to see one of the "Sky 4" fall down the league

Not if there isn't any basis for those predictions yet and there isn't. You might want to look up the word prediction. And you might take the time to look at the meaning of basis. "A prediction is a statement about the way things will happen in the future, often but not always based on experience or knowledge" Predictions don't need to be based on anything.

Yeah, but us and Palace don't play in Scotland

Maybe not up there with the best ever, but for recent years, Kaiser Chiefs - Employment was pretty good.

There was a mental rumour going around that City would sign Alderweireld and swap him for Demichellis. I imagine Atletico will just use the Demichellis fee to sign Alderweireld. It's pretty mental that he's going to City though, he only joined Atletico in July.

I would be disappointed with Vince Gilligan if everything I put in my post wasn't completely wrong

oops I've only started reading the last few posts.

Mat Kendrick just said on twiiter, it will be permanent not on loan if it happens.

Well, I signed up in Jan 11, so that saga has been going on for 2 and a half seasons now.

If it's a loan, I imagine it will have a clause to buy. Our board got stung before with Walker, I'm sure they won't that to happen again.

Sky Sources reckon they're in advanced talks for Ozil. Would be a fantastic signing, but still don't think it's what they need, they have Cazorla in that position too, so I don't see why they're going for him. Obviously either Ozil or Cazorla will play on the wing though, where either will still be very good.

Hardly breaking news, but Villas-Boas has confirmed Bale is joining Madrid in his press conference according to SSN's yellow ticker.

Thought they did well today, possibly showing they don't need loads of signings to make top 4. I still think they need a Vieira type player in midfield, Rosicky/Wilshere/Cazorla/Ramsey etc. don't have any bite to them and will get bent out of shape when teams constantly snap at their heels like we did. Why does Ramsey say y'know so much

They really should've been able to beat Arsenal today. Capoue could be a big blow too, looks very serious. They didn't seem to have the same unity as Arsenal, it'll probably come when the team gels. It's all well and good beating Palace and Swansea via penalties and thrashing poor European sides but if they want to be as good as some hype them up to be, they need to beat teams like Arsenal who will be around them come May.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1347304/Blackpool-boss-Ian-Holloway-Big-time-Charlie-Adams-good-Aston-Villa.html What I love about that is he calls us a half-arsed club that used to be famous and that's why Adam shouldn't come to us, then sells him to Liverpool

Yeah, there's nothing wrong with it, results are all that counts (why I would have accepted McLeish if he'd gotten us top 10 for example), but it can be mind numbingly boring at times. Although I would argue teams like Spain and Barcelona are much, much more boring, with their "attractive" and "beautiful" football, why watch a team pass along the back 4 and midfield about 30 times before even thinking of attacking. Because they end up scoring about 7 goals after those passes. To be honest, I couldn't give a rats ass if they score about 7 goals after those passes, 'cause I've normally been bored to sleep and miss it. I just find it extremely dull and hate watching Barca, although i don't fall actually fall asleep, I will miss the goals if I'm watching them, as I just stop paying attention. Back to Chelsea and Eto'o, I'm guessing that groundnuts job wasn't available then. I think Eto'o is the final piece of the puzzle for Chelsea, if he performs like he can, the main question is can he though?

Apparently we had move lined up for Ireland but he wouldn't move abroad. Sessegnon played last season well and is probably on lower salaries, Ireland didn't play last season well and is on huge wages. Ireland got player of the season for us 11/12 and we couldn't even sell him last Summer. He didn't get that because he was very good that season though, he got it because his attacking "mentality and flair" (used loosely) stuck out like a sore thumb in McLeish's tactics, Sessengnon was actually good for Sunderland last season.

Although it is gutting to see Spurs rise so much whilst we've fallen so much considering our positions 4/5 years ago, it is very unfair to compare our net spends and transfer dealings this summer. We've hardly sold anyone and got a huge wage bill for our position, Tottenham are about to sell someone to Real Madrid for a world record fee. They've been add top quality players because of this, and if Bale stayed this summer there net spend would be a lot, lot higher than ours. Also, Spurs will be challenging for the Top 4, we'll be challenging for the top half (or possibly survival). EDIT: Oh, and I agree with the rest of your post though, spot on for what we need to do for the next few seasons if we want to get back to where we were 4/5 years ago.

To be fair to Con, he did put "The way Benteke's started the season", and he currently has 4 in 4 games. Considering he's not been very good so far, by his standards, but still has a goal per game record, it's not completely unthinkable for him to get 30, imagine how many he'll score when he starts playing well again. Personally, I don't think he will get 30, but I think he's a serious contender for top goalscorer.

Strange one if true, Bastia aren't exactly a step up from Sochaux, they only finished 6 points above them in 11th last season in Ligue 1. You'd expect him to move to someone of at least a Bordeaux or Montpellier standard team if he stayed in France.

Yeah, there's nothing wrong with it, results are all that counts (why I would have accepted McLeish if he'd gotten us top 10 for example), but it can be mind numbingly boring at times. Although I would argue teams like Spain and Barcelona are much, much more boring, with their "attractive" and "beautiful" football, why watch a team pass along the back 4 and midfield about 30 times before even thinking of attacking.

Personally, I think you're way off leemond I can't wait for Monday now

What a ridiculous statement. Maybe he wasn't available then? Or Sochaux demanded a big fee as he's one of their best players, so Villa looked elsewhere, couldn't find anyone who was good enough value for money and came back. Also, how do you know he wouldn't be hard to buy? And just because he isn't hard to buy, why does that mean we had to get him in early or it won't happen? My view of this is that Lambert got in signings early for problem areas he had already identified, and was happy with that. He looked around put a few enquiries in here and there to see if he could get any good players on the cheap, and couldn't find anyone. First few games pass, and Lambert identifies another hole in the squad, IMO midfield creativity. He then goes back to his shortlist of players, picks out players he thinks will rectify this, and tells Faulkner to get player x, which may be a player he's already looked at, or maybe hadn't thought about at the time of the other signings. I don't know about this Boudebouz story though, it's intriguing that he was completely left out of the Sochaux squad, but it doesn't necessarily mean we're after him. Excited to see who this "signing" turns out to be, if it's true.

I have to say, I was hoping they'd really squander the Bale/TV Money, but it doesn't look like they have. I highly doubt if they still had 'Arry or some other manager they would have had anywhere near as good a transfer window as they have done. AVB is a very talented manager and has made some outstanding signings from Europe that I doubt another British manager would have made (Lambert if he had that sort of money maybe?). Without AVB I don't think Spurs would be anywhere near the standard they currently are, I reckon they'd be in a position to get top 4 if Arsenal and Liverpool slip up, rather than most likely being ahead of those teams for 4th and a chance of breaking the top 3. I thought AVB was very unfairly treated at Chelsea by both Chelsea and the media, but is now showing that he is a very astute and clever manager, unfortunately.