Daweii

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.

I don't think there is any 'right' time as it's all differs.. If you are feeling good about things and you feel ready to move on then move on. Some people take days, some several weeks and others several months. Just follow what you feel as ultimately you're the one that knows if you are ready to move on.. I think 2-3 months seems to be the norm, the harder part is actually finding someone.. I've been single for 2 months now after being in a 4 year relationship and I'm slowly starting to move past it.

It's probably wages that is the issue.. Villa probably want to give him say £40k a week and he wants £50-60k a week. It seems to be the biggest stumbling block, I know he's willing to take a pay cut but he's on a massive salary at Man City a pay cut to him is probably not what Villa accept as a pay cut.

I hope it is tied up.. I just want a signing you know, something that hopefully opens the floodgates. We've been pretty static so far, lots of speculation and links but no actual movement.. I want Given in today hopefully.

I think he only got the number 7 because Ireland was by far the best player in training on Friday. Ireland even said it himself at one point that he was always the best player in training, always put 100% in and Houllier kept telling him on Friday before the game to stay at home. I think now with McLeish his effort and hard work in training may very well be rewarded.. He plays on confidence and if the manager believes in him he starts to believe in himself.

On a sunny day that will happen.. We'll watch the sunlight bounce off his head.

He's from the last generation of player that by football standards know what sensible wages are. I mean when he was at Blackburn he was probably on tiny money.. He was probably on barely any more at Newcastle so he knows what it is like to have a 20-30k a week wage. While he wouldn't want to go back to that he's also one of the more likely players to meet in the middle.

From the images posted on the training field and on a night out he certainly seems like one of the lads, he's definitely not like Makoun who right now seems to prefer being the quiet professional.. Ireland seems to be enjoying himself out there.