MessiWillSignForVilla

 I'd also point to the bolded part of Jol's summation. Isn't it incredible that the masses on here have been sharping their knives with the very statement that Jol has contradicted.

 

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.

 

 

 

Rugby is much more entertaining for me, it's almost always an open game.

 

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.

ive never understood why people get so worked up about pundits. why do you need someone to tell you what you're seeing?

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.

cattermole available for £2.5m

 

I'd take him tbh, would be fine backup - and great for breaking up players we don't like

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.

 

 

Imagine how good that Christmas will be though.

 

Come boxing day, there'll be no Home Alone type rubbish on the box, it'll be Spain versus France. Lovely Jubbly.

 

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 

I wish football punditry would take a leaf out of Cricket's book. Great Ex cricketers, people like Nasser Hussain, Bob Willis, Geoff Boycott, Micheal Holding, Ian Botham, Shane Warne etc etc who provide in depth analysis ball by ball & are not afraid to slaughter somebody without thinking they are going to be upsetting their paymasters or anyone else. Their knowledge, opinion & explanation takes cricket punditry to a whole new level.

 

Add to this the unbridled humour that David Lloyd also  brings & you have the perfect package.

 

That's one of the major problems with football pundits. Everyone is so straight laced, safe, grey, boring & totally devoid of humour.

 

Eg The only time Lee Dixon, Martin Keown, Gary Neville or Alan Shearer ever made me laugh was when they tried to pass a ball for England.

 

Jimmy Greaves was the last funny man that I remember & that was yonks ago.

 

We really do need to rid ourselves of this jobs for the boys love in.

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.

 

 

This is why I don't think we will need many more players, as last years squad have grown in ability and confidence.

 

That was part of my point. The Westwood and Lowton that started in November last year wont be as strong as the two that start on Saturday

 

Yeah I agree, the second bit was more of a general point, although Westwood and Lowton weren't particularly great around that period.

Imagine how good that Christmas will be though.

 

Come boxing day, there'll be no Home Alone type rubbish on the box, it'll be Spain versus France. Lovely Jubbly.

I hate international football, so for me it won't be that great!

Lads, we have added to the squad no end. While it might take them a while to settle in, this is the line-up (and subs) from last November against Man City. We lost 5-0

 

Guzan

Lowton, Vlaar, Clark, Stevens

Westwood, Bannan

Weimann (Holman) , Ireland (Albrighton), Agbonlahor

Benteke (Bowery)

 

 

Tell me our line up next November, including the injuries / suspensions, will be as bad as that?

To be fair, only six of them I think will be nowhere near the matchday squad, and three of those are the subs.

One thing that is a positive for us this year is our starting line up don't have the pressure to adapt and prove themselves in the Premier League, and won't be in a relegation battle (hopefully) very early on like last season. Our flirt with relegation will also instill a belief in the players that if it comes to it, they can get themselves out of it again, unlike last year when they all looked like lost children at times. This is why I don't think we will need many more players, as last years squad have grown in ability and confidence.

I don't understand how the FA can support the idea of a winter world cup, why not question whether it should be held elsewhere. But then again, money.

http://deadspin.com/5980241/french-magazine-reports-that-qatar-bribed-its-way-to-the-2022-world-cup

 

This is not new; from the moment Qatar was named the 2022 World Cup hosts, allegations have been made that FIFA committee members had accepted millions of dollars in bribes to make it happen. Some of those executives were even banned or quit in disgrace! So it's not outside the realm of probability.

The latest claims come from this week's edition of respected magazine France Football, and they seem to imply UEFA head Michel Platini was pressured to switch his vote from the United States to Qatar.

The "evidence" is of the isn't that curious? sort rather than a hard paper trail. Platini, the magazine reports, attended a dinner with then-French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Qatar's crown prince, and a representative of French club Paris Saint-Germain. This "secret meeting" was held nine days before the World Cup vote. Here are the dots, which you're asked to connect: PSG, Sarkozy's favorite team, was sold to the Qatar Investment Authority, overseen by the crown prince. Platini's son was hired by the Qatar Investment Authority. Al Jazeera, owned by the Qatar royal family, launched a sports network that now owns broadcast rights to the French League and UEFA tournaments.

There is some actual evidence to back up France Football's general claims of bribery. An internal email from FIFA secretary-general Jerome Valcke saying that Qatar "bought the 2022 World Cup". A former employee on the Qatar bid says two African executives, including African Confederation President Issa Hayatou, were bought off in exchange for their votes. Former FIFA media chief Guido Tognoni says bribery was rampant.

Naturally, everyone involved denies the allegations. Said Platini:

"President Sarkozy would never have asked me to vote for Qatar 2022 because he knows that I'm my own man. I made my choice with complete independence following a simple logic... opening up countries who have never organised major sporting events."

2022 is nearly a decade away—we're seriously running the risk of scandal fatigue. And we haven't even involved Sepp Blatter or Russia yet.

Scoop of the century 

My main question about Qatar is if it's unrealistic to play there in the summer, why was it given the World Cup that has been played in the summer for almost 80 years.

EDIT: Added the text.

They will also back Qatar World Cup in the winter to the hilt, as Plantini is very 'friendly' with them. So not exactly representing the European member leagues interests there. While I am at it, Plantini has also ruined the European Championships by making it 24 teams by 2016. Great player, awful bureaucrat,

If the European Championships will have 24 teams, what's the point in the qualifying stage, would be much easier to have a two legged play-off.

It's a huge shame that the NextGen is getting killed off, it seems UEFA only supported it to see if it worked so they could implement there own money spinning version. Will completely kill off our academy if UEFA get there way, as there competition will be a draw for younger players who will no longer care if they get first team opportunities, only if they get to play in the U-19 Champions League. Along with FFP, it's just one small step until that glorious day the top teams bring in the European Super League.

No chance we'll get a defender IMO, as much as I want a back up for Lowton. We've signed Okore and Luna, and as much as some may not like it, Lambert has obviously identified CB and LB as our weaknesses in terms of either depth or quality, and has signed players to rectify it. If he thought we needed another CB urgently as some suggest, we would've signed another.

It baffles me that some say defence is currently our huge weakness considering we haven't seen what is probably going to be 50% of it play in a competitive game, and one of them looks as if he could be signing of the season.

 

 

If its a cash deal, its a good move all round. But if its a loan deal, then Bent is the major beneficiary imo.

 

It will only free up his wages, which could be the stumbling block between Lerner allowing us to bring in an average CM/AM as against a better quality player. And he will probably still be a Villa player in 12mths time, only a year older and even harder to shift.

 

As it stands Fulham will pay all of his wage, pay us 2 million up front, with the option of a permanent deal which will be another 3 mill.

 

This is a good for everyone concerned.

 

 

 

Yes, but could have been better for us.

 

How much so? No one is willing to pay up front so a deal that rids us of his wages, albeit only for a year, and potentially pays us £5m, roughly what we wanted, is a good deal

 

 

It better not be a loan.

It's better than nothing, it get's rid of his wages for a year, gives us a small fee and puts him in the shop window too.

Yeah but to Fulham? A club who've already (allegedly) offered us £4m?

 

But if it is a loan move then any rumour of a permanent deal is not true as no way would we accept a loan deal and not a permanent deal.

It better not be a loan.

It's better than nothing, it get's rid of his wages for a year, gives us a small fee and puts him in the shop window too.

 

 

 

Bent, Taarabt and BErbatov in attack, be betting Fulham go down now as not 1 of them will track back

Thank goodness we're unlike Fulham in that the strongest point of our team is our defence.

Why do you hate Villa so much? Our current attacking trio track back an awful lot, nobody mentioned either teams defence.

 

I love our team but hate double standards.

 

But Zatman pointed out Fulham's front three don't track back, which ours do, so in defense Fulham effectively will have 8 players where as we and most other teams will have 10/11, hence why Fulham could be favourites to go down. No double standards about it.

So if Bent is just going on loan which hasn't been confirmed yet does anyone think we'll be bringing more players in?

Possibly as apparently it's to Fulham who will cover all of his wages, the major stumbling block for bringing players in IMO

 

and Barry had a two page spread in the NOTW slagging us off basically

 

Yup.

 

And to answer MessiWillSignForVilla's question fully:

 

Young threw himself to the floor against one of his former team mates to win his team a penalty.

Yorke sulked off against Everton to force a move.

Downing turned his back on the club just weeks after stating that he was looking to sign a new deal. He also failed to show us respect after we took him from the Championship while nursing a broken leg.

 

I get why those guys are hated, I don't get why Milner isn't. Yes he gave his all for the club. Yes he was a great player. But at the end of the day he spent two seasons with us, jumped at the first chance, turned the entire transfer into a saga which meant we still had in the 10/11 season for a bit (a saga which apparently made MON leave), and despite desperately wanting to go to Man City wouldn't hand in a transfer request to get it sorted just so he could get his pay off. IMO, he's just as bad as the rest of them.

PS- Also, Yorke was just a big name I threw out there, I was five when he left and devastated and therefore know little about how he acted when he left 

Well...he was pretty damn good.

So were Downing, Young, Barry and Yorke, yet none of them are held anywhere near in such high regard as Milner.

Radio 1 this morning had a whole procession of shitmunchers finding out their A-level results live on air.

 

It's not this that annoyed me, it would have atleast been entertaining had it gone horribly wrong. No, the thing that annoyed me was that they managed to cherry pick 4 or 5 individuals who were basically guaranteed to get unbelievable results. I think there were 5 people on, and atleast 3 or 4 of them got straight A's. Pretty demoralising for the average student who may have been listening. Imagine being over the moon with your 3 Bs, only to listen to that crap and then decide that your 3 Bs were actually nothing to be proud of at all.

 

I had rather good A level results back in the day, but even I found myself looking back thinking 'perhaps I wasn't that intelligent after all'.

 

Well done BBC, you've outdone yourselves.

Was the same last year, I remember either watching TV or listening to the radio after getting my three D's to hear that every other person who did their A level's seemingly got all A's and B's, it really twisted the knife in.

Then people have the cheek to claim it's all getting too easy, but that's probably because they see every top student reveal there results on TV/Radio and never actually realise there are students who do average/terrible as well.

Quick question, why is Milner treated like a god on this forum? Yeah he was a great player for us, but he jumped ship at the first sniff just like the rest of them. He has no interest in our club, only money, just like Downing, Young, Barry, Yorke, etc. Yet seemingly because he didn't hand in a transfer request (the shitty thing to do when you want to leave like he did) he isn't vilified, but in fact loved!

I Just don't get it.

 

 

Con,  couldn't agree more sad old Dinosaurs, their comments are so predictable.

 

 

 

Even though Liverpool are out top four and not getting back into it, they still want to hold on to the "status" of Liverpool, as they perceive it. The way they do that is pretend a talented Aston Villa side doesn't exist. 

 

I don't think it's that. It probably has more to do with the fact they know shit all about football. Unfortunately even with Benteke I don't think we're quite Top 8 material just yet.

Good point about Hutton.

 

I disagree that Bannan has gone from a very effective season to "useless" just because he has not been played.

 

Maybe Strachan left him out because he thought the game was too fast and physical. 

Define effective.

I had almost as much effect on Villa's season last year and I can't even claim to be part of the "12th man" as I don't get down to games anymore due to Rugby/Uni.