MessiWillSignForVilla

That brainless idea to give Pardew an 8 year contract isn't looking so good now... there was a reason for it what was the reason? In there second season back in the Premier League, he got Newcastle fifth and was very close to getting fourth, all without spending ludicrous amounts of money and getting cheap talented foreigners. If their situation had been managed better and they didn't keep bringing in players on the cheap from France and creating cliques within there squad, who probably have no connection with the club or the fans, they could've gotten top 4. Pardew was the golden boy in the North East at the time and although the rest of the country could see it was bonkers, it was a brilliant move for Newcastle as they thought they had a team that could break the top 4 and the manager who could do it. It was high risk, high reward, and unfortunately for Newcastle (and brilliantly for everyone else) it backfired spectacularly. If Newcastle had gotten top 4 last season instead of almost getting relegated, it would've seemed a very good and ballsy decision by Ashley. And with three of the actual top 4 changing managers, Pardew would've been hot property and Newcastle would've got a huge pay off to let him go to someone else.

Don't think we'll win but don't think it will be a loss by more than 2 goals, it's not Mourinho's style. Chelsea will go 2-0 up and take the foot of the gas, and we might claw back a draw. If we get the upper hand, I don't think Chelsea's defence will be able to handle Gabby-Benteke-Weimann, they couldn't at VP last year.

None of his signings have proved they deserve to be in the "bomb squad" imo, but i'm certain if we start knocking on the door of top 4/6 then the likes of Vlaar, El Ahmadi and possibly Bennett and Sylla will be shipped out. Lambert has shown he can be pretty ruthless with players and I doubt he'd be one to be sentimental over ones he's signed.

I know it's not to be taken as gospel, but wikipedia says it's being held this year at the same time as CL group stages on a "trial basis"

Agree with this, even think if Chelsea had won it would've been supported and publicised more.. But as it was "little lowly Aston Villa" then they are not happy. I don't think that's true at all. UEFA only allowed the NextGen series to go ahead to see if such a competition would work or generate interest, and as soon as the NextGen showed its capabilities, UEFA decided to go ahead with their own money spinning version, all in my own opinion of course. Us winning it had no bearing on UEFA's decision, it would've happened who ever won, if anything us winning has put a spanner in the works for UEFA as many good sports journalists will question why the current U19 Champions of Europe will not participate in UEFA's version. I also think that "funding" is just an excuse, all the big teams are playing in UEFA's competition this year, so NextGen probably had very few teams willing to participate. Is the uefa one actually confirmed? Yep, takes place at the same time as Champions League group stages, with youth teams from said competition.

Agree with this, even think if Chelsea had won it would've been supported and publicised more.. But as it was "little lowly Aston Villa" then they are not happy. I don't think that's true at all. UEFA only allowed the NextGen series to go ahead to see if such a competition would work or generate interest, and as soon as the NextGen showed its capabilities, UEFA decided to go ahead with their own money spinning version, all in my own opinion of course. Us winning it had no bearing on UEFA's decision, it would've happened who ever won, if anything us winning has put a spanner in the works for UEFA as many good sports journalists will question why the current U19 Champions of Europe will not participate in UEFA's version. I also think that "funding" is just an excuse, all the big teams are playing in UEFA's competition this year, so NextGen probably had very few teams willing to participate.

Genuine? Id love to believe it is genuine I really would....but it can't be. Its far to honest and funny to be real. Particularly when his persona in front of a TV camera is that of a startled goldfish. Theres a video on his profile on that Keek thing acccepting follow requests for the account on twitter, and the Keek account is almost definitely him.

I Just noticed, he's bloody fast!!! On the highlight for his goal you can see he starts inside our box and starts sprinting on the edge of it, it takes him 10-12 seconds to get to the edge of Arsenal's box and it's not in a straight line either! Maybe i'm too easily amazed, but I'd say thats pretty quick. I did think he had a bad game when watching it due to his poor positioning, but considering he was up against Walcott and he did nowt all game, he was actualy pretty good. I really like thi guy.

I think he's allowed to transfer, but not allowed to play for three different teams in the same season (except loans I think)

Sorry, what's the point in this article? Something from last January saying were not signing anyone and N'Zogbia needs to up his game, what does it prove?

Yeah he probably didn't deserve it under Houllier, but it was probably a deal Houllier made to try and sweeten the fans by tying down a favourite.

It's ridiculous if he doesn't perform well, but if he puts in performances like today all season then he'll definitely be worth it.

Don't think he was lazy today, it looked as if he was just trying too hard to make something special and look nonchalant about it. Also he was poor by his standards, if we'd just signed him I reckon people would be saying he looks a decent player but needs to improve.

Looks like being top may only last a few hours

People saying £14m will be too much based on Kiyotake, but could it be what Nurnberg wanted was too much for Kiyotake? Whereas if Lambert thinks this Lestienne is worth £14m, so Lerner will stump up the cash. I don't think money is a problem if the Board/Lambert thinks the players worth. Unsure whether to believe this though, it does seem a lot, but then again I've never seen him play.

fixed

What a game! The first time I remember winning so convincingly on the opening day. Is it the first time our position has actually improved after the first game? Guzan - 8 - Kept us in it for a while with some great saves, especially from Cazorla and Rosicky to make it 2-2 Lowton - 6 - Didn't really do much but was solid. Vlaar - 7 - Very solid, looked comfortable on the ball too, had Giroud in his pocket for most of the game. Baker - ? - Only switched on after 15 minutes so didn't see him play. Luna - 7 - Slightly worried with his positioning, but otherwise had a good game, great goal too. Westwood - 6 - Solid, nothing too special, but not a foot wrong either. Delph - 7 - Thought he was poor first half, but was great in the second, made some great driving runs and unlucky not to score. El Ahmadi - 8 - Very impressed, he has grown into the Prem, no longer trying to be that Xavi type player and is now much more of a midfield enforcer, broke up a lot of attacks before they started. Weimann - 6 - Didn't get too involved, a bit mixed when he did, hopefully just some first game nerves. Agbonlahor - 9 - MOTM, was the thorn in Arsenals side all game, great play for both penalties, and some good tracking back too. Wound Wilshere up a treat too Benteke - 7 - Tried a bit too hard I think, despite his two goals he wasn't that influential, by his standards of course. Clark - 7 - Very solid, no longer the lost boy he looked last season, he keeps this up a lot of people will be eating their words. Bacuna - ? - Not on for long but looked decent, good run ruined by his shot.

Proof from Seattle!

Just because Jol thinks Bent is good in build up play doesn't mean it's true. I've seen enough of Bent to know that he is too lazy to fit into Lambert's tactics. I'll point out when we drew 1-1 to Norwich at home, winning 1-0 with ten men and Benteke was brought off for Bent. Bent was too busy hanging off the shoulder of the defender or trying to come too deep to pick up the ball that we had no outlet upfront, cue 25 minutes of pressure from Norwich and an inevitable equaliser. If Bent was half as good at link up play and creating opportunities for others as Benteke is, we would've won that game. To play Bent effectively you need a striker to hold up the ball to play alongside him or a creative midfielder/winger. He'll do well at Fulham as he will have both in Berbatov and Taarabt, although if I was a Fulham fan I'd be concerned about how much that attacking line will track back. Don't get me wrong Bent has been fantastic for us, he kept us up in 10/11, and arguably again in 11/12, but that was because he had a decent supply line, under Lambert the striker is part of the supply line, something Bent cannot do. I wish him well, he's not done anything wrong during his time here IMO, and I hope he does well enough so we can get roughly £5m for him next summer.

have you seen some of mismatched in Rugby World Cup That's pretty much the only International Rugby I don't like watching, it's not fun watching New Zealand/Australia/South Africa putting 80+ points past Georgia/Namibia/USA. Although some tries in those games can be rather spectacular. The same way it's not fun watching Spain/Barcelona pass the ball around the back four for 90 minutes and hope one of the strikers makes a good run so they can make a safe pass through for a goal.

That's the problem, that's what most football pundits do, say what you see. Whereas a good pundit will actually explain why Team A picked apart Team B, rather than the current lot saying Team A picked apart Team B. They will explain why option B or C was better than option A which player X took. Someone like Shearer would just say Player X took option A, I would've taken option B. And so on. People get worked up about pundits as they are useless and offer no valuable insight, but there is the potential for pundits to really be valuable and offer interesting views on games, which currently doesn't happen.

Went to the same tackling school as Jonathan Hogg apparently Don't know why I remember that specific commentary line from one of Hogg's 6 games he played for us, it was about 2-3 years ago too.

I hate international football, so for me it won't be that great! Yeah, but... the World Cup? You don't hate the World cup surely? It's like a thousand Christmases rolled into one for any fan of football. I'll watch it, but normally switch off after the first half if it's not England or the final, even then it's hard for me to watch the entire game. It's just too tedious for for me, too many teams play possession football and try and bore the other team into defeat. Tbf, I can't watch much football anymore if it's not Villa, only big games i.e WC Final, CL Final, FA Cup Final etc., Rugby is much more entertaining for me, it's almost always an open game.

http://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/422527/Gareth-Bale-drops-Spurs-exit-hint-with-expiring-tax-disc Some journalists really are desperate enough to do anything for a story

Football commentary/punditry is just terrible in general. It's just so plastic. Rugby and cricket are much, much better. I'm going to miss ESPN's rugby coverage, the commentator's just had a chat whilst watching the game, going off on tangents telling stories from when they played, like you would with mates down the pub. The same with cricket. Plus as you say, they actually have some knowledge of the sport aswell which never hurts. It's quite telling when someone as boring as Gary Neville is considered by far the best pundit around, although I do like him, he is actually good.