MessiWillSignForVilla

I reckon it'll be between 8th-14th, with it being more likely in the bottom half. Despite being very excited by the signings I haven't seen any of them actually play, so I can't be sure they'll improve us massively. We'll stay clear of relegation though as our current players will have more confidence from the off. Also other teams around us have strengthened quite well which doesn't help us, so I just don't see top half being realistic, with my prediction of up to 8th being at a push and we have some good form/lucky results.

I love the way he gets in the inter players faces then realises he's meant to be "Injured" so bends over and starts to hobble. word removed. The only player I would love to see his career ended in a Roy Keane style tackle.

Used one of those self service check outs earlier at Tesco and the woman in front of me decided to scan all her stuff, pay and then put it all in the bag Took about 5 minutes longer than it should've.

Isn't that just the Quota system which turned so many South African sportsman from their national teams? I understand that diversity is a good thing and you shouldn't not get a job/signed due to your race, but surely the achievement of said diversity is lessened if you are only chosen due to being in a minority. Racism has no place in sport but so does having someone compete just because they're in a minority, if your not good enough your not good enough, end of.

He's currently 18/1 to get Top Scorer this season, certainly worth a punt, can't believe his odds are so long, he was only fourth last season and we were absolutely awful, imagine how many he'd get now we seem to be quite a bit better.

Nah, he's waiting for Utd's pursuit of Fabregas to fail, wee Barry's next in line for Moyes.

I think that's the main positive about our attack this season, if you try to double and nullify one player you leave the other open to expose the defence, and you can't double up on all three, otherwise the midfield will run riot. I'm very excited to see us next season.

But the whole point of the OP was that smetrov would wish Bannan well at Blackburn, but can't because of the driving issue, so does that mean he doesn't wish Delph well, it has nothing to do with whether he plays for Villa or not.

Because he is a product of our youth academy, and IMO he's not as bad as people make out. I can understand why people wouldn't want him to succeed based on the drink driving though. To be honest, my view on Bannan has changed multiple times thanks to this thread, I used to like him until I saw claims that he was world class in this thread and I begun to despise him, then that went away a bit and the thread started to become the Barry Bannan abuse thread rather than being about the player so I've come to like him a bit more again and hope he does well as he does have the potential to be decent.

If you cannot bring yourself to wish Bannan well, because you morally object to his driving misdemeanour, does the same go for Delph? He's answered that you've just not understood. He wishes them both well on the pitch in a Villa shirt. Bannan no longer plays for Aston Villa so he's JUST a silly prick. But that question wasn't strictly aimed at him, from what I can see, but at smetrov and Kingfisher has assumed that Aston was on smetrov's side as he seemingly entered the discussion defending smetrov's view. smetrov said he would wish Bannan well, but couldn't 'cause of the driving thing, therefore does that thought process extend to Delph?

Yeah but Suarez is better at it

If Bale is supposedly worth £80m, what do you guys think Suarez is worth? Both played the same amount of games last season but Suarez scored more and got more assists, whilst having the same chance conversion and a higher win %. IMO this just points to Bale being slightly over rated due to him playing for Spuds and being British. Plus, Suarez's attitude won't be scrutinised as much in Spain as they applaud the ability to dive rather than condemn it and would probably overlook the flaws in his personality.

Usain Bolt and his "Dream" to play for Utd and his seemingly constant pleas for a trial. Just 'cause you're good at running doesn't mean you're good at football, get on with Athletics and stop begging!

You state this as if it's a common occurrence. There has been one example of this that I have seen (If there are more please enlighten me) and that example was Thiago Silva who got sold in the same window as signing a contract to PSG for 42m Euros, or roughly £36m, an exceptional bid that is probably higher than the player is worth. There is no chance Benteke will leave unless Villa get ~£35-40m, and no club will pay that for a player if they weren't willing to play £25m for a month ago, unless he scores a hat-trick in all three opening games, which won't happen.

Considering we were holding out ~£25m from Spurs, and he just signed a new contract, I'm certain he won't leave this window unless its for ~£30-35m +

Don't know why, but I've got a feeling Tonev could be this season's Benteke. He probably won't hit the heights Benteke did, but I think he's going to be very highly rated this time next year.

The most infuriating thing with Bannan IMO, is that he has almost completely squandered the potential he once had. He had the potential to at least be a regular for us and dictate the midfield for a mid table/top half team, but to see him seemingly not try and consistently waste possession with his hollywood balls and poor decisions means it's time for him to go and he'll probably never make at Premier League level now. I wish him luck at Blackburn as I actually liked him when he first broke through, he needs to play in the Championship as that is unfortunately going to be his level in all probability. Oh, and he is nowhere near the worst player to ever play for Villa, I can name at least four from last season, Lichaj, Herd, Ireland and Dawkins.

That's from the MON school of player deployment. No, let's hope Lambert uses midfielders for midfield roles. But Clark is much better suited to midfield rather than defence as he is good with the ball at his feet and is very composed, but is liable to the odd mistake which is much less punishable in midfield. It's not the MON school of player development either, that's not playing youth players when needed, Clark has been played in midfield by both Houllier and McLeish IIRC and looked competent. Barry started out as CB, he became our nailed central midfielder for about 7-8 years. Bale was a LB and almost sold by spurs 'cause he wasn't very good there, he's now one of the best players in the world on the left wing/behind the striker. Henry started out as a winger and became the best striker of his generation. I don't think Clark is in the same league as these players, but they are examples that mean just because you start your career in one position it doesn't mean it's your best position.

Hopefully signing a new CB will see Clark move into a more central midfield role, think he would be much better there, he'd also have less pressure on him when he tries to play out instead of hoofing it, and he's mistakes would not be punished as much as they would if he played at the back.

Although you're right that there was that general air of not caring that season, but Young was one of the only players who did seem to try IMO. Downing was also in that group, so maybe they were playing for themselves rather than the club, but at least they still gave 100% Plus, I don't get this love for Milner over the way he left, he dragged it out by not putting in a transfer request and still got to keep his "Loyalty" bonus, meaning he squeezed even more money out the club, whereas Downing and Benteke (if he'd left) would've foregone that bonus to get the situation sorted, the difference is Downing acted as dick before he handed it in so people disliked him anyway. Milner has no love for the club and I see no reason why the club and it's fans should love him so much when he turned his back on us for money just like the rest.

Benteke, I'd be surprised if he wasn't already our highest earner

I have to admit I had no idea what the Council of Trent was, but I've never really been interested in history so didn't take it any further than year 9. Never really got taught history of religion either, just the origins of it. I do find it funny that a lot of religious people, mainly Christians, can be so condemning of everything around them and dispute scientific and historical facts, yet know so little about there own religions history.

More likely to be 120-150k per week. He moved for big money and was a regular in the England team wouldn't be on 80k I would be surprised if Young is on more than £80-90k a week, I think people do tend to exaggerate how much players earn because of the absurdly ridiculous amounts the very top players get. Most top team will only pay £100k+ if they are confident they will be a guaranteed starter and going to be an integral part of the team. I would imagine the top teams in England (bar City and Chelsea) only have two or three players on £100k+. I mean look at Arsenal who almost lost Walcott, one of there most important and best players, on a free transfer as they weren't willing to cough £100k per week. At Villa I'd imagine Young was on somewhere between £50-60k, was offered ~£70k to stay and offered ~£80-90k at Utd.

That does annoy me when someone asks if I'm christian and I reply "Yeah, i'm Catholic" to get the response of "So your not christian then?" I never quite know whether it's meant as a deliberately provocative thing, or they genuinely don't realise what Catholicism is. A lot of the time it genuinely is ignorance, I often have to tell people that all Catholics are Christians but not all Christians are Catholics, and there are different denominations within christianity. Normally to get educated in why what I know about my religion is wrong and Catholics aren't christians, although I think this part is the majority of the time as a wind up, but it normally starts as genuinely not knowing.

Have you forgotten about Ash's corners then? Yeah his set-pieces ain't great, he had that one good season when he was aiming at Carew and Laursen but rarely puts in a good corner/free-kick nowadays.