Daweii

Now all we need to do is beat Chelsea tomorrow just to show him what an ambitious club he has joined.. That the season is still 3 weeks away and we're winning trophies.

I am surprised at the 5 year deal.. I wasn't expecting them to tie him down for that, I was also not expecting him to agree to a deal that long.. I mean if no one comes in for him in a year or two he'll be 30 by the time he leaves.

I would love to see McLeish play the same 4-2-3-1 he played against Walsall as we looked strong. I just want to know if it was a formation that worked or just that Walsall aren't that good. Given. Young, Collins, Dunne, Warnock. Petrov, Makoun. Albrighton, Ireland, Heskey. Bent. I think unfortunately for the likes of Delph and Agbonlahor I believe that will be our strongest 11 and our best formation this season.. We just replace Heskey with N'Zogbia when he arrives.

Pre-season is a tricky time as it's about fitness and trying to gel new players, but it's also about confidence.. If you can build up a nice win streak in pre-season then team confidence is sky high. It's why McLeish probably isn't risking too much in defence right now as if we played say Lichaj, Collins, Clark and Warnock and then got smashed 7-0 then confidence would be shot.. Pre-season or not.

Hopefully Ireland is fit for the game on Saturday.. Positives - Defence was spot on.. They didn't put a foot wrong all game. Given kept us in the game at times.. That save in the second half was stunning. In the first half we were playing some crisp short passing football. Darren Bent once more showing us why we paid so much for him. Negatives - Our youth players didn't turn up.. Delfouneso looked extremely tired, Albrighton just didn't seem up for it and Clark.. If we play him as a CB and he makes the mistakes he made today we'll concede goals. Maybe it was the heat, but unfortunately it was the youngsters (Bannan not included, he was great) that let the side down today.

1-0

I think our best formation will be 4-2-3-1 -----------------Given-------------------- --Young---Collins--Dunne---Warnock-- ------------Petrov-Makoun--------------- --Albrighton---Ireland---N'Zogbia------ ------------------Bent--------------------- I think that will be our starting line up for the Fulham game in a few weeks time.. It just seems to be the strongest after watching this game.

Everyone watching at home me included will not realise how hot it is there.. There is a reason they are doing pre-season there as it will get them into top shape incredibly fast.. Playing in that heat for 30 minutes is like playing 90 minutes in a typical Premier League game, I am not surprised that some players vanished in the closing minutes.

In summary.. Aston Villa have been in relative control over the first 45 minutes. We have been playing crisp and short passing football with some incredibly slick play. Either side has yet to score and in all fairness Blackburn have come closest with long shots from Dann testing Given. It's been a pretty controlled half that has played out more like a training match than anything.. What Villa have produced though is promising.

all knackered in the heat if you're talking about the last 5 mins or so. makoun had a great half up till the 40min mark Exactly there has been more to this match than the final 5 minutes. For the opening 40 we have played pretty much flawlessly and would have probably scored had Blackburn not defended so well.

I want another replay of that tackle.. I just hope that is not the best we'll see of Warnock this season, that tackle was incredible.

Haha Warnock destroyed him! I loved that..

The passing play is great.. At times I feel like I'm watching Chelsea that's how slick and well done our passing has been. I agree with Nigel this is an incredibly one sided game and as it goes on and they get more tired then the goals will come.

We're really missing Ireland out there.. We are playing Bannan expecting him to play the kind of passes Ireland can do and it's not really working.

Ireland is arguably the best player at the club from a technical standpoint.. He was arguably the best player at Man City before he was dropped and shut out for a whole season. If he can get some match practice and a bit of that near on arrogant confidence back he'll be a star at Villa.

Sunderland are still bitter over losing Bent and now they "appear" to have lost out on purchasing N'Zogbia they are really angry.. If they were so attractive and great then N'Zogbia would have snubbed us for them. Also our side even in a weakened state could run them ragged any day of the week..

There is still the possibility of loans.. McLeish as far as I am aware has stated this is his final purchase, but we can still get all sorts in on loan.

Is he off to Liverpool then? :winkold: Yeah with Albrighton when he puts in a stellar season..

He was really happy tonight, had he not come off as a precaution he would have created several goals before half-time. Once he was gone we did appear to miss his presence it was a great debut for the guy. PS. I know he's played for us before, but really this was his debut to me with his clean slate he played as if last season never happened.

Hell I remember the 2-2 draw at Man United last season.. We played an incredibly young side with Bannan at the center of it and we destroyed them.. If we hadn't lost concentration in the final minutes, we'd have beaten Man United 2-0 with a youth focused side. The likes of Bannan, Gardner, Albrighton are incredible talents I do think we could line up with several of our youth talent in the squad and win most games.

I would think the fact that young keepers like Smithies will now know that Given is here (and likely to be number 1) for 5 years is going to put them off joining, as five years without first team football is a long time. I think Smithies would also realise that he's only 21. It's rare that goalkeepers get the number 1 shirt at that age. I mean Joe Hart and David De Gea are relative anomalies really.. Most clubs go for age and experience every time so Smithies unless he's incredible will start to get first team football at the bigger clubs when he's 25-26 which is just right as Given will be out of contract by then.

The contract isn't a sticking point for me.. I mean we could sign anyone for 5 years, we could even sign someone that has gone through his entire playing career never getting injured once. The first game he plays for us he completely tears his achilles tendon and never fully recovers. Signing players is a risk no matter who it is.

If we get all 3 then that is pretty good business. I mean 3 good players for essentially the money made off of 1 good player. If he's allowed to use some of the Young money as well then we may be looking pretty strong come day one of the new season.

I wasn't expecting Darren to be that into the club.. I know he's happy here, but he's behaving like a fan.

I absolutely love that band always gets me pumped up and ready before I go to the gym.