romavillan

we need to hope that tottenham don't deal with the opportunity to go third very well and we get a point or better. otherwise we could be on the end of a proper beating tomorrow. if qpr and bolton win, then we are in deep shit.

if it was a manager who hadn't won titles in 2 different countries and the champions league already. then maybe i could understand saying that you're sick of it. even benitez won the title in spain twice and a uefa cup before winning the champs league with houllier's liverpool team. capello has been there, seen it and done it both as a player and as a coach. why would he want to spend the last years of his career trying to turn the villa around? i dont' agree either that he woudl be a disaster if he did decide to do it. i don't think he or anyone else is going to have an instant effect though. i think we're dreaming if we think any manager is going to come in and have one pre-season and suddenly we come out playing like barcelona...

no it wouldn't. he's won titles in italy and spain and is 65 years old, looking to top off his career and place in history by winning a title in england or another champs league. if he was 40 and looking to build a career then maybe a young villa side ready to be moulded in his image could have been a stepping stone for him on the way up. at 65 and wanting to win titles i doubt villa even gets near his list of places to go and work. i'd love to be wrong, but if ancelotti wouldn't touch us with a barge pole a year ago, why do you think capello would come to villa park?

ahah. especially those who like to stay out very far wide on the right, over the touchline...

I agree but for some reason others think that QPR will become one of the best teams in Europe overnight ;-) might be city have already won the title though before the last day. at very best it's tempting fate to say that it's impossible that qprwill get a point at the etihad...

well if they already had the title in the bag i'd say qpr woudl have a lto more motivation for the game than them, their minds would already be on the lap of honour and lifting the trophy. we need a couple of points at least to be sure, it's tragic we're talking about how we can stay up and not get another point all season! point against the spuds woudl be very **** handy indeed

on the other hand, swansea could do united while man city spank the arse off newcastle. meaning that man city will already have won the title and have no motivation against qpr who get a point after beating stoke at home.... ...meaning we go down.

Ha, my first shutting laptop. I genuinely believe this though, I don't understand the dependence and need to be drinking that people have? It will f@ck your body up, especially at the rate Collins seems to knock it back. Probably why the guy looks about 50 when he's actually in his 20's. Give it up and you could add another five years to your career. I honestly believe that. whilst you are right to a degree, i think it depends on what type of player you are. socrates and cruyff used to smoke 40 cigs a day throughout their careers. it's true the game is quicker now but cruyff would have been a fuckign genius in any age. if you're a pro that has to work very hard to get the most out of your talent in order to be at a compettive level then yeah, you are prob best not drinking or smoking if you want a long career at a decent level. if your game does not rely on pace and physicality (the type of players pretty much out of fashion at the mo, but think messi, silva, nasri, zola etc. etc.) then i don't see why you have to be anything but in shape enough to get through 90 minutes in a way that when the clock says 89 you are capable of doing your stuff. i'm not advocating that our players should be out getting spannered on a daily basis but it's not as black and white as you make out for me. a player like gabby will need ot be treating his body like a temple and not just not be drinkgin and smoking but be employing a top dietition to make sure that he's eating in a way that complements his training etc. if he wants to stay lightning fast past 28 years old. on the other hand, someone like merson could probably have played with a fag on and still been better than most

until we know what happened inside it's hard to judge. they had a day off the next day too. could be that herd had got a lot of abuse inside and they were with their ladies so no-one wants to lose face in that kind of situation. to be honest as long as they play well (and herd has been one of the few postiives this year) then booting the odd door in anger at who knows what kind of provocation, whilst it's not a good thing, probably isn't the end of the world!

not seen them much (only the odd highlight here and there) so can't say really, but he's supposed to be what keeps them ticking over from the middle of the park. herd could turn into that for us with the right coach

ha yeah, quite often suicidal that lecce team! he got them playing some great footy though, we could offer him one more shot at getting to the top, either as a stepping stone or by him working some miracles realistically we can offer him a salary that dwarfs what he's on now (20th highest paid manager or so they say) and he could do great things with the squad. not sure what his english is like though but he's already at least bilingual... even though he didn't win anything, most roma fans my age speak about him like he's some sort of mythical football god they go all misty eyed in a way that they don't with capello or spalletti.

its why he has been blacklisted by top teams there. Great tactician and his attacking policy would be a joy to watch that and he's a difficult man to get along with! but yeah the drugs claims crippled his career in italy. pescara are **** flying though and could well be back in serie a with him in charge. that would be awesome for him. we're a step up from pescara though but i doubt he would come to the uk. that rome team is still the stuff of legend here it woudl be amazing to get him at VP, he'd get the kids playing some proper football. VP woudl be packed to the rafters, it'd be a rollercoaster but would be ENTERTAINING 100% attacking footy.

ha! shame fiorentina are shite though. the radio here this morning have been saying that ljajic was asking for it! from italy i'd love to see crazy mad zeman from pescara at villa park. football genius who has a great history with bringing through kids. i don't think ranieri would be a bad shout. he built a very good chelsea side before abramovic came along and deserved to take it on further. from spain, bielsa!!!! anyone who follows tim vickery's blog knows why if we have to limit ourselves to premier league tunnel vision then martinez before lambert for me...

bielsa, zeman, martinez, ranieri, lambert, adkins...

yeah there's far too much certainty about us staying up for my liking!! still very possible we end up in the championship feeling all butt hurt. spuds can do us a big favour tonight, and getting a point off them (or hopefully 3) will be very handy. really don't want to be looking at other results on the last day to see if we are safe!

i didn't read it that way to be honest. i don't think he was going to put him on the bench if he couldn't kick a ball. the thing i didn't like about that is how vaguely he seemed aware of bent's progress. if your best striker was out you'd be well on top of every second of progress he was making towards being fully fit. no "not sure" about it!

a lot of the "shite" people got was in response to seriously over the top instant hatred for AM on a personal level, which was never gonna help anyone and the responses were quite often in teh same tone as the original post. i was one of the people who were prepared to give him time, he's had it, he's failed, he should go. doesn't mean that the over the top keyboard warrior BS spouted by a few on here was a presentient revelation though. it's still over the top BS.

neither is a nailed on certainty though yet. big plus that city will be playing qpr with the title on the line. be nice if tottenham give bolton a spanking tomorrow and then we get something out of our game with spurs.

Without wanting to speak for iancharlie I can see what he is getting at. Villa football for me is the team passing the ball and feeding 2 wingers who whip balls in with a striker to get on the end of them. to be fair we haven't seen a good passing side a villa park for a long time! lambert isn't a total football merchant but he's not exactly route one though either. he coudl do a job here i reckon, although if it's style you're after then martinez is more your thing. i'd take zeman from pescara or try and get bielsa off bilbao (both never gonna happen)

-----------------given---------------------- lichaj----clark---baker------warnock ----------gardner----herd---------------- zog------------ireland----------carruthers ---------------weimann----------------- no way in hell mcleish would pick it, but i reckon that side is a good one! hopefully we'll see more of carruthers next year. zog, ireland and carruthers could all swap around too. might even be nice to watch

mange tout BOF, mange tout. bolton are on a good run though. we need crouchy to REALLY shine to get a place at the euros...

whilst i don't share vreitti's complete pessimism, the people claiming that we are already safe are jumping the gun a bit for me. if the spuds don't beat bolton and qpr beat stoke we could be right in the shit again come sunday. bolton will get a result against the albion. so like a few others i reckon it's just abotu qpr. if we have to match their result on the last day then we are at best going to have a **** nervous afternoon.

IF we lose to the spuds and qpr win, along with bolton picking up points. it definitely sets up a nervy last day. if stoke do us a favour though we can be safe before the last day even kicks off. i wouldn't be going out on a limb and saying we are definitely going down or staying up. either could happen still and our form is terrible.

hmmm, didn't herd start out life as a centre back too or am i wrong? clark is a central defender, warnock is a left back, so if herd is naturally a defender that makes 7 defenders out of 10 outfield players? we're ****.

that's a weird old selection that team. warnock did have a good game in central midfield, not on the left of the midfield. why not play lichaj in his best position and warnock at left back? play carruthers and zog wide... weimann has done enough to keep his place for me too. i'd have played 5 across the middle and no heskey though. if ireland not fit then bannan/gardner/carruthers in front of herd and clark. team doesn't inspire me at all as AM has it. gonna be a long afternoon (again)