Zhan_Zhuang

I wouldn't...he's one of ours and therefore always gives the team his full effort.

He's had the odd injury over the last few years but if he plays for most of our games this season I expect him to get double figures. To me that's worth more than £20million.

I thought this was the Spain v. Scotland thread?!

Anyone wonder why the Scots fans only sing the part of their national anthem that includes the bit about "sending the English home"...they have many verses yet always sing the same part?!

Watched Drive last night. Good film, great soundtrack

Not the Mark Dacascos film I take it?!!!

Watched 'The Ghost' last night which was rather good. Good cast, script and direction (of course).

Both seasons are staged and scripted, that much is obvious...I do however watch to see the various locations which are of interest.

Merchant and Gervais are both very dislikeable characters (imo).

It's a buyer's market at the moment but as has been said it depends on location and employment.

In fact, I could see him in WWE if he leaves UFC, Vince & Co. would love him to ride in on a wave of controversy, and they adore their legit wrestlers too

'Legit' and 'WWE' in the same sentance?!

It was cringeworthy, but no doubt all involved will be laughing to the bank.

I hope Silva destroys him as I find Sonnen's fight-tactics far from entertaining.

But yep as said, Edgar was immense...movement (footwork) was great throughout and his fitness is top-notch!

It's almost impossible to say who was better out of Ian Rush and Gary Lineker. Lineker was prolific at every club he played for and at international level, though the Liverpool side Ian Rush was a key part of was better than any team Lineker turned out for. It really is the toss of a coin, but if I had to pick it would be Lineker, probably because he was England's star player when I was a kid. I wish we had bought Linker from Barcelona in 1989 instead of Spurs. By all accounts Ellis was willing to pay him £10k a week, but Graham Taylor vetoed it because he thought having one player earning so much more than everybody else in the dressing room would break the team spirit. We might have won the title instead of finishing second that year though.

Yea, I agree. For some reason I loved both as a kid growing up and I do have a soft spot for Barca as a result.

I really never knew about Lineker being lined up for a switch to Villa, that would have really made us unbeatable!

I had the radio on in the car last night and they had Peter Reid in as a guest, and it got me thinking about how there is now an entire generation of people who have no idea just how great a player he was back in the day. It is hardly a coincidence that Everton had a period of dominance in the English game in the mid 1980s when he was at his absolute peak (he finished 4th in the Ballon d'Or in 85) and I do wonder how much he would be worth if he were around today. How many other pundits/managers were genuinely world class players too? Gary Lineker is probably the obvious example, I think he had a genuine claim at being the best out and out striker in the world at one point and a 25 year old Graeme Souness would probably walk into any side in the Premier League too. Any others?

Good points.

Lineker was absolutely class and he proved that further at Barcelona; I personally think Rush was better though however I guess his spell at Juventus was difficult.

Why in our last two home matches have we played like the away team?

In all honesty with the chances they've had it's no surprise...another SHIT performance by Villa.

Delph's looking a liability, Bannan promising though...I think we need Jenas.

I notice that it did have the inevitable fight scene where the hero is surrounded by the bad guys and they come at him one at a time so he can drop them. Yawn.

Yawn? Cliché or not sir, that scene is excellent!

Sorry, but I have an antipathy to martial arts generally. Kung-fu, ninjas, Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Crouching Tiger, you name it. Can't stand that stuff.

Martial arts? I must have watched that scene over 20 times, there aint much martial arts involved. Street fighting scenes of that quality are rare as rocking horse shit. It's an astonishing piece of cinema as is the film generally and you, my friend, are wrong :winkold:

It's not a classical martial arts scene but it does have martial arts techniques. Two front kicks and one side-kick, 'he' uses good economy of movement, switches stances regularly, utilises cadence correctly, his rear heel is poised which are factors all discussed at length by Bruce Lee in his philosophy of Jeet Kune Do.

[1] EDIT: And no doubt, a whole bunch of far eastern directors I know nothing of. I notice that it did have the inevitable fight scene where the hero is surrounded by the bad guys and they come at him one at a time so he can drop them. Yawn.

Not one-by-one at all, hence the protagonist would not have ended up with a knife in his back! Technically it's decent fight scene and quite realistic as the corridor was narrow and also filmed in one continuous take.

As a martial artist myself it was fairly well-executed.

I am not saying I am a fan of Petrov - all I am saying is an ex-captain of our football club shoulld not be slagging off our current captain - simple.

As for Petrov, you may not like - but he was bought by O'Neil - he played him, bought apparent replacements and Petrov fought off that competition.

O'Neil left and McDonald took over - and he played Petrov

McDonald left and Houllier took over, he played Petrov, in January bought an apparent replacement in Makoun, and quite quickly, dropped Makoun and played Petrov.

He then left and McLeish took over, and after a summer of saying "he will evaluate the squad" - continues to play Petrov ahead of Bannan, Ireland etc...

And - for Bulgaria, he is about to break the appearance record, having played for a number of managers - all of which have picked him ahead of everyone else.

So, forgive me - if he is so crap - why the above ? - please answer :?

And as for Mortimer - I am eternally grateful for the joy he brought to our football club for the decade give or take he was associated - but I think when he has attained 103 caps for his country, he may have the right to criticise a player who has

A GREAT POST!

These are the facts and hence are contrary to the opinions of people here who do not rate Petrov.

A truly terrible twenty minutes of football from Villa, have we strung more than two passes together?

We're going to lose this.

A good start to the season, he was better today and showed good skill, passing and strength.

Hopefully with experience he will get better as the season does progress.

Petrov won't be dropped as Club Captain so the shirt is his to lose.

Well that was coming to be honest!

N'Zogbia is quick...

Petrov still passing back though. nearly everytime!!!!!!

Petrov has been class first 45

Yea he has.

I agree that Delph looks good again as he did against Fulham. Strong, good passing, skillful and ability to beat a player. Would maybe give him a rest later though to keep him fresh.

Yes Blackburn are an average team but N'Zonzi is decent and Dunn as much as we dislike him is a very experienced player.

I'd be happy with this team!

Given Man of the Match by a country mile. Defenders all of them were solid. Delph looked pretty good. Not much else of note...

Good point as far as I am concerned. First things first we need to get the defence sorted and then we can build from there.

I think many people underestimate Fulham, they've got some very good players many of whom featured high in the Opta statistics last season including Hangeland, Dempsey and Zamora. They'll be comfortably top ten in my view.

Early days for Big Eck's Villa but this point will give the team confidence for the next match; the test is to see whether we can play with a little more attacking intent at home.

2-0 Villa.

I'd like to see Big Eck go attacking here; Petrov and Delph proved they could handle Blackburn no problem in the Asia Cup but we must play two up front.

Given

Young

Collins

Dunne

Warnock

N'Zogbia

Petrov

Delph

Albrighton

Agbonlahor

Bent

Zog looks sharp.